CHENNAI: They are still called porters or coolies and many of them at the Chennai Central Railway Station do not know the meaning of the Hindi word ‘sahayak’- the politically correct term that was used in the last Union Railway budget.
“We are used to these names. It hasn’t made an impact on our livelihoods. Call us coolie or sahayak, we still do the same job running from pillar to post to make ends meet,” says Kalaivannan (50) clad in the traditional red uniform in Central Station.
The last budget promised these porters training in soft-skills and an image makeover.
“Porters play a key role in making our journeys comfortable. We intend providing them with new uniforms and training them in soft skills in line with the evolving image of the Indian Railways. Henceforth, we will be happy to call them as ‘sahayaks’ (helpers),” declared Union Minister, Suresh Prabhu last year.
However, one year later, with this year’s budget to be presented on Wednesday, there is no evidence of new uniforms for porters. Porters say they did get a half-hour session for soft-skills training during the week the last budget was presented but there was nothing after that and they have not seen any new social security schemes.
A month after the last railway budget, 297 porters employed at the Central Railway Station received identity cards with ‘sahayak’ printed on it. In that same week, they were asked to assemble on one of the platforms and officials spoke to them for about half-an-hour on how they should approach passengers with a smile.
“We were told to address the passengers as sir/madam and talk to them politely,” said A Parthiban, 33, one of the porters in Central Railway Station.
“We were also told we would be provided with uniforms, but we received red shirt material, as we do every year, which we have to get it tailored into a shirt with our hard-earned money. And on the day of joining we are trained on how to talk to passengers and other skills,” he added.
“But the saddest part is, though we want our children to study in good schools or at least in railway schools it still remains a far-fetched dream. I make a daily wage of D600 to sometimes D800 per day, which is hardly enough for the household. If we get a permanent railway job then it would be beneficial. After the last budget we hoped that we would be benefited, but we have been left disappointed,” added Parthiban.
“We only hope that this budget has something useful for us,” said V Palanivel, a resident of Urapakkam.