Friday, Jan 28, 2005
Friday, Jan 28, 2005 |
By S. Vydhianathan
CHENNAI, JAN. 27. The financial year 2004-05 is a milestone in the history of the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), which is celebrating its platinum jubilee.
The second oldest Central service in the country after the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA and AS), the IRAS was carved out of IA and AS in 1929. It was on this year that the British Government decided to take over all private railways when their contracts expired and the railway budget was separated from the general budget.
Headed by the Financial Commissioner, now Vijayalakshmi Viswanathan, the IRAS is an important administrative wing, which ensures smooth functioning of the system. On an average, it handles cash transactions to the tune of Rs. 30,000 crores per annum and every transaction is meticulously accounted, according to senior officials. Of this, Rs. 4,000 crores is paid in cash as salary to employees working in remote locations where bank branches do not exist.
This apart, the IRAS officers are entrusted with examining the financial viability of projects, proposals for which are sent by various zones. No project is taken up for execution unless it is cleared by the Financial Controller.
The department was the first to introduce second-generation computers — IBM 1401and IBM — 1440 in 1966 in the zones and in production units for computerisation of accounts. This was followed by ICIM computers and then by RISC and INTEL servers. The railways issued computerised pay slips to its employees long before any organisation did, be it in the public or private sectors. It was also the first Government Department to avail itself of the electronic clearing scheme and electronic funds transfer introduced by the Reserve Bank of India.
IRAS officers have distinguished themselves in fields other than accounts and occupied key posts in public and private sectors. K.S. Subramanian and S. Kalyanaraman served in the Asian Development Bank.
Passengers associate railways only with trains, track, stations and computerised reservation. But they are seldom aware of the work doney by accounts officials who are described as the "brain of the organisation."
A function is being organised here on Friday to celebrate the jubilee.
