Eid – another workday for railway porters

Modern travel options leave labourers struggling to make ends meet

LAHORE:

While Eid is a day of celebration for many, for porters who work at railway stations and carry heavy luggage and goods for passengers it's just another day on the job.

With inflation on the rise, many of them struggle to make ends meet and cannot afford to take time off to celebrate with their families.

The Multan Cantt Station serves as the headquarters of a railway division covering a large area in Punjab.

As passengers enter the station, they are greeted by old and young, thin and weak-looking people wearing coloured shirts. These are the porters who rush towards the passengers and carry their luggage, no matter how heavy it is. They hope to earn as much money as possible, but carrying excessive weight often causes back pain and other health problems.

Wazir Ahmed, a 70-year-old porter at Multan Cantt Station, has been working there for 44 years. He said while speaking to The Express Tribune that his condition had remained the same all these years. He lamented that his children and wife were waiting for him on the Eid so that he could bring new clothes and shoes for them. But he could not go home on the day of Eid without money in his hands.

Wazir added that in his 44 years of service, he had never seen such hard times. He used to be happy when he earned Rs5 a day, but now, even if he is lucky enough to earn Rs500, he finds it difficult to feed his family.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and floods, many trains that previously carried passengers were stopped, and the passengers prefer to carry their trolley bags themselves.

Rising inflation has also left travelers unable to hire porters to carry their burden.

More than 100 porters work at the railway station, and they all share Wazir Ahmed's grief. A contractor takes a commission from their daily earning as the annual contract costs Rs500,000. After paying the commission, the money left with the porters is barely enough to afford a meal. Most of the porters belong to the suburbs of Multan and have to pay fares to go to the station.

Due to the construction of motorways and the availability of other comfortable travel facilities, there are fewer passengers on trains, and the porters remain out of work at the station.

A porter said the labourers should be given the status of government employees with regular salary.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2023.