It was January 1984. Families living in the railway settlement at Mughalsarai Jn, Eastern Railway, had just got LPG connections. We also got one and as a 12-year old, yours truly was just experiencing the transition from coal to LPG. Our first ever LPG cylinder cost us Rs 55 according to my mother.
LPG connections were distributed to the families of all railwaymen by the employees cooperative society stores which was situated bang opposite to the main entrance of Mughalsarai Jn. railway station.
It was provided by Indian Oil Corporation under the brand name Indane. My mother bought a Niky Tasha gas stove with two burners influenced obviously by their kitchenette ad on Doordarshan.
Every household got a single cylinder and given the time taken to receive a replacement after the first one was empty meant that we had to retain coal-based chulha and coal stock sufficient to last 10 days as a buffer.
About a decade later, a second cylinder per consumer was given and with that we stopped using coal-based chulha. In June 2001, we vacated our railway quarters just three months prior to my father’s retirement from service.
Coal-based chulha
Prior to January 1984, my mother used to cook food using a coal-based chulha, a smaller version of a tandoor.
We had four chulhas and we used to keep all of them in the backyard of our railway quarters. All the four had a handle akin to a bucket and were hence portable. Coal had to be broken into small pieces using an iron hammer. The chulha was then stacked with pieces of coal in the shape of a pyramid.
The chulha used to be lit by igniting a mixture of saw dust and cow dung using kerosene. On ignition, smoke used to rise at first and the chulha was kept in courtyard until the smoke subsided. Only then was it brought inside the kitchen for cooking.
The chulha had a circular grill type plate kept inside, over which the coal was stacked. On burning the ash from coal used to settle at the bottom of the chulha. A chulha would burn continuously for about two hours in one go and to prolong this time period, the coal used to be replaced.
The chulha was partially emptied off ash by using an L-shaped iron rod to disturb the ash stuck in the circular grill. This would make way for replenishment of the chulha with more coal. Our household monthly consumption was about two quintals of hard coke. Plus one quintal used to be set aside as buffer stock, my mother says.
Other varieties available included soft coke and charcoal. My father had to take a cycle rickshaw to the coal depot about three and a half km away from our colony to get monthly supply of fuel. People had to bring their own gunny bags for buying coal.
We used to stock our monthly coal supply inside a dedicated shed in our backyard. After a few years, coal supplies were available at our colony. Coal used to cost about Rs 15 to Rs 20 per quintal, a princely sum those days.
Cut to 2026. It is heartening to see that a couple of days ago, the East Central Railway’s DDU division signed an agreement with GAIL Gas for the distribution of piped natural gas (PNG) to about 4000 households in railway colonies. Also covered were vendors, running rooms, and workshops.
This is a correct decision on the part of railways to have ensured that fuel reaches households of railway men who ensure that the wheels that carry the nation forward doesn’t stop despite hiccups such as the present middle east conflict.
Post script : Mughalsarai is now renamed as Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Jn or DDU and is under East Central Railway jurisdiction. The railway station was opened on December 22,1862 when East Indian Railway opened its line from Dinapore ( now called Danapur) to Moghal Sarai (later changed to Mughalsarai and now DDU).
The goods marshalling yard at Mughalsarai was opened primarily for streamlining the transportation of coal, the fuel for Railways and Industry in India. A large coal trading depot at Chandhasi on the outskirts of Mughalsarai also flourished as a result.
Lal Bahadur Shastri
Presenting the railway budget (final – as the 1st general elections were held in 1952) on May 22,1952, Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Union Railway Minister ( born in Mughalsarai) in his budget speech said
“A Deputy Director of the Railway Board is now in position at Moghalsarai. He will be in constant touch with all the zonal administrations and with the Railway Board to ensure the flow back of an adequate number of empties through Moghalsarai into the coalfields.”
Such was the importance of this otherwise sleepy town.
