PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE /Dehradun
Livelihood uncertainty has been staring at the luggage helpers at Dehradun railway station since the introduction of electric vehicles about a month ago. These electric carts charge Rs 50 per passenger and Rs 30 for luggage. Only two vehicles operate at the station, but they cover all five platforms of Dehradun railway station. The porters, who have been working here since the early 1900s, are struggling hard to survive with their income plummeting fast.
Notably, these electric carts were introduced for senior citizens and patients to help them come and leave the station.
An electric carts driver, Shivam Mishra said that the porters charge extra money for their service despite the rate being fixed.
The porters have their own tales of woe to tell. The National Federation of Railway Porters and Coolie Union says that the porters who would earlier earn Rs 300–Rs 400 a day are now earning barely Rs 100–Rs 200 a day and even less on some days. “The elderly porters who are ill cannot afford treatment. Some days, they do not earn a single buck. Around 40 to 45 porters in Dehradun and nearly 25,000 porters across the country are facing the same crisis,” said the president of the union, Ram Suresh. “We are at the receiving end of what is called development. To help us come out of this grim crisis, the government should roll out a porter-friendly policy. We have rights to survive,” he said, adding that something should be done on the lines of what the former Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav had done through adjusting porters into railway work.
A porter, Ravindra Yadav, who has been working since 1990, said that things are really grim for them. “Earlier, we used to earn enough to make both ends meet. Now we are amidst an existential crisis, staring at starvation along with our families,” he said.
