'Professor' Lalu's wagon rolls into IIM-A

Ahmedabad, Sep 18 (UNI) It was Lalu's day out at the IIM-A today. The Railway Minister arrived here today, donning the 'Professor's cap' to lecture the students of the country's premier institute on the journey of the Indian Railways, from being written off two years ago to becoming the second largest profit-earning public sector enterprise. Wife Rabri Devi and his children also accompanied him.

The students too had done their homework to receive their high-profile guru. Professor G Raghuram, who has been coordinating the Minister's visit, said 97 of them participated in drawing up project studies on four themes, of which the best was presented before the Railway Minister.

The studies have dwelt on Indian Railway at the crossroads in May 2004, whether there has been a real turnaround, and what were the financial and non-financial determinants, how increasing axle load has contributed to the Railway profitability, and finally how sustainable are the initiatives taken.

The fiscal 2004-05 was Mr Lalu Prasad's first financial year as Railway Minister and there has been a improvement in revenue to 5,200 crores from Rs 1,000 crores in 2001. With the axle load initiative in 2005-06 the net revenues of the Railways has touched Rs 8,000 crores which is a record in a single year, Prof Raghuram said. As things stand, the net revenues are expected to go up to Rs 12,000 crores, he added.

Mr Lalu Prasad's role has been one of giving the Railways a dynamic momentum, Prof Raghuram felt. He doesn't interfere in contracts or transfers which has been a contributory factor, he noted.

Another major feature of Mr Prasad's leadership was to cut time in loading and unloading of wagons. Earlier, the loading was done during the daytime upto 1800 hrs as there were no good lighting facilities at night in the sheds and other age-old problems. But today, thanks to the Railway Minister night loading has begun, the Professor said. ''If trains could run round the clock, why not the loading work?'' was Mr Prasad's reasoning, he added.

Prof Raghuram was a member of the Rakesh Mohan Committee which worked on, among other things, a fresh financing plan to make the Railways a commercially viable organisation. He has also conducted a detailed study on the Railway turn-around, which has been included in the curriculum for post-graduate programme in management for executives.

After the two-hour session with students, Mr Yadav will deliver a lecture on 'Leading Change and Transformation in Indian Railway' at IIM's Ravi Matthai auditorium later in the day.

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