Railway sahayaks see a ray of hope ahead
Railway porters, who were rechristened sahayaks in the last year’s budget, are expecting change in their lives when the 2017 budget is on Tuesday.
Hyderabad: Railway porters, who were rechristened sahayaks in the last year’s budget, are expecting change in their lives when the 2017 budget is on Tuesday. The 220 rail sahayaks at the Secunderabad Railway station, who take turns every 24 hours; that means 110 of them are on duty from 11 am to 11 am the next day before the next batch takes over are waiting with bated breath.
P Narsing Rao, a sahayak, said, “We have done away with the word ‘coolie’ but it has not made any difference in our lives. Our demand is to absorb us as Group ‘D’ staff that comprise posts of sweepers, peons, trackmen and assistant pointsman. In the last year’s budget, it was announced that the iconic red uniform would be replaced with sponsor logos but that has not happened.”
With the advent of escalators at railway stations and passengers using trolley bags, the sahayaks have been badly hit. D Beeraiah has been working as a sahayak at the Secunderabad Railway station for the last 25 years. He rued, “7-8 years back we used to make more money. Today each sahayak takes home only Rs 300-Rs 400. Also we work for just 15 days a month.”
Out of the 10 escalators at the Secunderabad Railway station, platform No 6 and 7 have two-way escalators and the remaining have one-way ones. It is the aged, patients and illiterates who do not know the coach position who take the services of sahayaks.
The last time coolies were recruited as group ‘D’ employees when Laloo Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister. Beeriah lost out on the opportunity due to age bar and medical reasons. He said, “At least youngsters should be given a chance, so that their lives would change
forever.”
The demands of rail sahayaks include family pass in trains, medical allowance, in-patient facility in railway hospitals and accident insurance. The new budget may bring in some good news for the porters as the government is planning to bring the sahayaks under the social security net of Employees Provident Fund (EPFO).
An additional cess of 10 paisa may be levied on each railway ticket. Indian Railways issues 10-12 lakh rail tickets every day and levying 10 paisa cess would help collect Rs 4.38 crore annually which would be enough to provide PF, pension and group insurance to 20,000 sahayaks across the country.
