We are on the verge of self-immolation: Porters

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 2

The month-long halt on passenger trains in view of farmers’ "rail roko" protest has pushed coolies at the Chandigarh railway station to the brink of "self-immolation".

The phased revival of passenger trains under Unlock 1.0 had brought only momentary respite to city porters who stood a chance at recovering from lockdown-triggered financial lows during March, April and May. However, with the announcement of "Punjab Bandh" late in September, Ambala Division terminated the route of two pairs of trains that were plying over the city station from June 1 onwards. Since then, the coolies have been weighed down by the burden of debt and are battling a crippling economic meltdown.

Porters -- the "men in red" who ferry the luggage of weary travellers -- assume the lowest rank in the structural hierarchy of the Indian Railways and have never been part of its salaried staff.

On October 27, Vijay Singh Meena, Chandigarh president of the All India Lal Vardi Coolie Union, handed a representation to Divisional Railway Manager GM Singh, detailing the plight of 39 coolies who worked there. “We are on the verge of self-immolation,” read the representation. Requesting monetary relief in the representation, they listed accounts of city porters selling their wives’ jewellery to make ends meet.

Meena says, “As it is passenger train services were stopped in March. I have not earned a rupee since then. I have pending house rent of Rs30,000 for nine months and I haven’t been able to pay the school fee of my children. Every month the school warns me, their name will be struck off if I don’t pay up. I don’t have any money and it’s been a month since a train plied over this station.” He said a porter made between Rs17,000 and Rs20,000 a month before the pandemic.

The two trains that resumed service at the station, Una-Delhi Shatabdi and Paschim Express, too, didn’t ferry many passengers, say porters. “Those trains would carry just about 20-odd passengers. Most of them were travelling out of necessity as no one travels for leisure during a pandemic. Obviously, they didn’t carry much luggage, so the work was slow,” informs Rajender Kumar.

Another porter, Veeru Kumar, adds, “I didn’t even have any savings. I’ve had to ask my friends for loan. Now, I am in debt. Since I haven’t paid back the money for months now, I will be charged 5 per cent interest.”

With no train in sight and little hope to hold on to, Rakesh Kumar says, “NGOs came and gave ration to us during the lockdown, but that could only keep my family of five fed for a month. Throughout Covid, even when the trains plied over the station, we weren’t given any masks or sanitisers by the authorities.”

DRM GM Singh said the division had distributed ration to the porters. “We can only do this much. The Railways doesn’t have financial resources. As it is, to cut down on our costs, the contractual staff of the division have also been laid off,” he said.