In the present economic downturn, porters at railway stations, responsible for hauling passengers’ luggage, are struggling, much like Pakistan Railways itself. However, while Pakistan Railways can rely on the government to bail it out, porters do not have the same luxury.
Poor working conditions, docked salaries, lack of health insurance, no pension plan, and job insecurity are the hallmarks of being a porter, colloquially referred to as coolie, at the Karachi Railway Station. While these hallmarks are not limited to the port city only, the high cost of living in the metropolis means that coolies based in the city can barely survive, let alone put food on the table.
“This is not a salaried job. Some days I make Rs 800, other days I make Rs 1,500; out of which 30 per cent goes to the contractor who hired me,” informed Shafqat, a porter at the Karachi Railway Station, also known as Cantt Station. On average Shafqat makes somewhere around Rs 34,000 per month, which hardly covers his bills. “With the current inflation level, I barely get by,” he said.
Similarly, Naeem, who had just gotten done helping out a passenger with his luggage, remarked that even getting by has become impossible. “I can either afford food and living or send money back to my family,” said Naeem, who hails from Punjab. “These days a coolie has no life,” he added sorrowfully.
However, while the coolies’ plight has been exacerbated by the back-breaking inflation, it is not new. “There has never been any sort of government assistance, pension, or medical facility by the department for porters. The government does not care about coolies,” regretted Manzoor Mullah, leader of the Railway Union.
This is because the porters are not employees of Pakistan Railways, they are daily wage workers, according to Haji Allah Dutta, a contractor for porters at the Cantt Station. When pointed out that even contractors were exploitative, a defensive Allah Dutta, said, “we help out porters in every emergency, when it is the government that should take responsibility.”
Athar Riaz, Divisional Superintendent Karachi of Pakistan Railways, does not agree with Allah Dutta’s assessment. “Porters are not regular employees of the department, they are subordinate to contractors. Hence, contractors should be held responsible for the plight of the porters,” said Athar matter-of-factly.
However, the department and contractors throwing blame at each other is of no interest to Manzoor Razi, a central leader of the Railway Workers Union, who demanded that porters be given governmental protection. “The contractor system was abolished in 1972 as a result of mass protests by porters but it has become prevalent again; so the least the government can now do is register the porters as department workers instead of treating them as daily wage labourers,” a passionate Manzoor suggested. He further said that the federal minister for railways should personally explore the option of giving coolies health insurance and old-age benefits.
“The minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique, desperately needs to take notice of the plight of coolies,” the workers union leader implored while talking to The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2023.
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