Modern Hyderabad (1914)

"Modern Hyderabad, Deccan" by J. Law, Thacker, Spink and Co., Calcutta, 1914

Made available by the Internet Archive.
Link: http://www.archive.org/details/modernhyderabadd00lawjuoft
Source: Library of the University of Toronto Edited by R Sivaramakrishnan. Posted to IRFCA on: August 30, 2008.

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The Railways.

The Great Indian Peninsula Railway in the south and west, and the Madras and East Coast Railways in the south and east, are united by the Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway, which runs from Wadi in the west to Bezwada in the east. This railway is owned and worked by a company under a guarantee from the Hyderabad State, and the same company works the metre-gauge line which connects the capital with Manmad, in the Nasik district of Bombav. There are also branch lines from Husain Saugar to Hyderabad, Dornakal to Singareni, and Purna

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Junction to Hingoli; and a line is now being constructed from the capital to Gadag, via Mahbubnagar and Raichur. In the Barsi Light Railway the government has no financial interest.

During 1320-1321 Fasli (1910-1912 a.d.), the whole of the interest guaranteed by government was reimbursed by the company, and the government also received 25,440 as their share of the surplus profits towards the liquidation of the Contingent Liability Account. The total sum outstanding against the company in the Contingent Liability Account at the end of 1912 was 2,102,961 including simple interest at five per cent.

Having travelled much on the State Railway, I may say that it is slow but safe, and one need never be afraid of experiencing a railway accident on it. People do not travel as much in the Nizam's Dominions as they do in British India, consequently one can sleep at night. But electric fans there are none, and water runs short during hot weather, and rules concerning the conveyance of luggage in the van do not exist. Thus, on one occasion I saw the "traps" of a missionary Sahib removed from a first-class carriage, and they consisted of two steel

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trunks, one portmanteau, two tins of kerosene, four lamps, a small bundle of sticks and umbrellas, a large bundle of bedding, a zinc bath filled with kitchen utensils, a tennis racket, two hats, and a tiffin basket.