NEW DELHI Sanjay Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP and senior Aam Aadmi Party leader, said he will bring up in Parliament the problems that the porter community is facing at train stations all around the nation. Members of the porter community met with Sanjay Singh on Tuesday and asked him to bring up their issues in Parliament. Singh claimed the porters are facing unemployment as a result of the government’s privatisation of the job at train stations. “I have raised their concerns in the House several times, but the government has not paid any attention,” he stated. 20,000 porters were given jobs in the trains by a policy that Lalu Prasad Yadav initiated while he was Railway Minister, he said, but thousands of people are still unemployed. “Now, once again, I will raise this issue in Parliament and firmly stand by them in their fight,” he said.– I have raised the issues of the porter community in Parliament many times, but the government has paid no attention – Sanjay Singh– Lalu Prasad Yadav implemented a policy to provide railway jobs to 20,000 porters, yet thousands still remain unemployed – Sanjay Singh“As long as railway stations have existed, so have porters to carry people’s luggage,” Sanjay Singh said during a press conference held at the Aam Aadmi Party headquarters with representatives of the porter community. “Even a movie called Coolie was made on porters. They bear our burdens; we see them on our travels, and then we forget about them. Their suffering goes unheard and misunderstood. When Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister, he brought forward a scheme to provide railway jobs to one member from each porter’s family. At the time, about 22,000 porters were employed under this policy. But about 20,000 porters are still unemployed today,” he said.Sanjay Singh pointed out that the problem of unemployed porters has frequently come up in Parliament. “Now the central government has handed over porter work to private entities, which has further worsened their situation. Porters used to get some money through the Coolie My App. Now, however, even that has been removed. These porters are no longer employed by the government or receiving jobs as porters. The shortage of work is causing pain and hardship for porters at railway stations around the nation. Even planning two meals a day is challenging for them. How are they going to provide for their families? This question is serious. In the next Parliament session, I will bring up the porter issue in a significant way. If porters protest at Jantar Mantar or anywhere else, I will join their movement.”Ram Suresh Yadav, convenor of the Rashtriya Coolie Morcha, said during the press conference, “We demand that the remaining porters be regularized in the railways under the same 2008 policy initiated by Lalu Prasad Yadav.” Although the demand for porters hasn’t decreased much as a result of modern technologies like lifts and escalators, the government has privatized the porter industry and given it to private businesses. Porters, therefore, have no more work to do. The Railway Minister said that porters and their children will receive education, healthcare, uniforms, drinking water, and rest house facilities for their welfare and social security when Sanjay Singh brought up our matter in Parliament during the last session. But these services are not available at any railway station in the country. Even after orders from the Railway Board, these facilities have not been implemented.”– Just as porters were regularized in the railways in 2008, the remaining ones should also be accommodated – Suresh Yadav, Convenor, Rashtriya Coolie Morcha“What good are these facilities, even if the government provides them, if our work is being turned over to private companies?” Ram Suresh Yadav continued. Even if the government provides these facilities, what good are they to us if our work is being handed over to private companies? Private contractors will employ their own people. When there is no work left for us, how will we educate our children or run our households? We urge the central government to regularize the remaining porters just like in 2008. Former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had promised to accommodate porters aged 18 to 50 in the railways. For those who were left out, their children were also to be given jobs. But this promise remains unfulfilled to this day. Our demand is that all porters be absorbed into the railway system,” he said.
