The number of porters helping the passengers in carrying their luggage in and out of railway stations keeps dwindling with passing time. The profession not fetching enough money for survival, many of them are going for better earning opportunities. Dehradun station is no exception.
Vivek, a porter on the Doon railway station, laments that technology has done porters a great disservice. “Trolley bags with wheels at their bases can be easily pulled away by anyone. While carrying luggage is now more convenient for the people due to the technology-propelled amenities it has certainly put us out of our traditional work”, he adds despairingly. “Government has installed lifts and escalators at the big stations. That cuts our workload. However, the Government having provided trolley at the stations on rent to enable the passengers to load their luggage on it has left us in the lurch. We have been at the receiving end of the Government making things easier for the passengers at our expense,” he adds.
Rajkumar, another porter, regrets that the rates that have been fixed for them are unjust to them as they are inadequate even to adequately satisfy the hunger of the family. “Besides, Dehradun being an education hub, the students coming and going through the station hardly help us as they travel light and don’t depend on us to carry their luggage for them”, he adds.
NC Sharma, CIT, Dehradun railway station, admits that the technological up-gradation of the luggage carrying system is landing the porters in problem. “This is the biggest reason why they are seeking to branch out to other avenues of earning living. We had 150 porters in 2008. At present, the number has dropped down to just 45,” he reveals. “What the porters earn at the end of the day is too paltry even for bare survival, given the inflationary trend of the prices of essential commodities. A whole day’s labour hardly fetches them Rs200-250. Most of the porters having families to support, they are naturally drifting away to other professions”, he adds.
Most of the people this correspondent talked to, however, present a humanitarian argument, saying that it is good that the porters are slowly being replaced by technology-propelled devices. “It is inhumane really. How can I let someone else carry my luggageIJ It just doesn’t feel right” says Priya, a passenger from Delhi.
Echoing the same sentiment, Varishth, a commuter from Sharanpur, says, “I cannot let the elderly porters lift my luggage. The sight of them carrying luggage of others to earn their bare bread is painful to me. The technology replacing porters is a welcome development. They should be provided with other more dignified means of livelihood by the government. This seems to be an antediluvian custom straight from the medieval age when there was no concept of dignity of labour and dignity of the poor who were crushed under the grinding wheels of life. Now it is time things should rupture for a better one,” he adds.