Munabao (Rajasthan)
30 January 2006
As the swanky railway station in the sleepy hamlet of
Munabao gets ready to receive on the first train ferrying Mohajirs and others from
Pakistan, Indian Railways officials say enquiries are pouring in from divided families
living in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar about the resumption of rail link between the
Sindh province in Pakistan and the Indian desert state of Rajasthan.
"We are ready in all respects, [it is] only a question of dates," Mr SB Bhattacharya,
General Manager of North Western Railway said as a 10-member delegation led by
Advisor (Traffic) Ashok Gupta in the Railway Board on Monday began two-day talks in
Islamabad to finalise the modalities of running the weekly train which that will connect
the Mohajirs in Pakistan with their kin here.
Bhikha Ram of Village Roerhi near Munabao has been working for the last eight months
as contract labour. He earns Rs 80 a day. "I helped built this platform," he says proudly
but does not know if age would permit him to travel by train. Unlike him, the much
younger Dipa Ram, whose in-laws live in Munabao, is excited. "I hope to travel one day"
to meet his relatives from the Bhil tribe, he adds.
Chief Commercial Manager S Kala talks fondly of a subordinate staff, an inspector, who
has married off his two daughters into families of his relatives living in Pakistan. "He is
very excited [about the train service.] He can afford to meet his daughters now," Mr Kala
recalled the father as telling him. "This train will serve to connect families like his at an
emotional level," Mr Kala observes.
An air of expectation is already palpable across the border where the Muttahida Qaumi
Movement (MQM)'s Member of National Assembly, Mr Kunwar Khalid Yunus, has
expressed similar sentiments. Media reports quoted him as saying that the people of
Sindh were worried about the delay in restarting the train. He also wants the Indian
consulate to open in Karachi soon.
The train is expected to have a carrying capacity of 350 to 400 passengers. "In the first
month, we anticipate 50 to 60 per cent occupation [of seats]," an official says. However,
pointing out the lack of infrastructure on the Pakistani side, he feels the facilities made
available at Munabao may not be available at the "Zero Point" station being built by
Pakistan a 10-odd feet away from the Zero Line.
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