Crushed by inflation: Porters left to fend for themselves

In the present economic downturn, porters at two of the country’s busiest 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 and Lahore railway stations. Furthermore, the high cost of living in the two cities means that coolies who live there 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, Mohammad Razzaq Chatha, a coolie from Sargodha, working at the Lahore Railway Station for the past 37 years, said that he was struggling to put food on the table. “I have five children who live with their mother back home in Sargodha. After a long month of gruelling labour, I have only Rs 30,000 in my pocket, a large percentage of which is sent back home to support my family,” shared Chatha.

Naeem, a porter at the Cantt Station, who had just gotten done helping out a passenger with his luggage, can relate to his Lahori counterpart’s plight. “I can either afford food and living or send money back to my family,” he said. “These days a coolie has no life,” Naeem added sorrowfully.

Muhammad Iqbal, a coolie in Lahore, agrees. “The worst part about this job is that our misery does not end with us; we cannot even afford to send our children to school,” resented Iqbal, who is the father of eight children of school going age.

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 Workers 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.”

Muhammad Ashraf, the current contractor at the Lahore Railway Station, echoing Allah Dutta’s thoughts, said that while we occasionally do provide monetary support to porters, it is the job of the government to provide them with medical facilities and educational opportunities.

However, Athar Riaz, Divisional Superintendent Karachi of Pakistan Railways, does not agree with the two contractors. “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.

Nevertheless, 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 railways minister, Khawaja Saad Rafique, desperately needs to take notice of the plight of coolies,” Razi implored.

Chaudhry Naseem Iqbal, President of Pakistan Workers Federation, agrees. “I urge the government to include porters in the workers category so that they can receive employment and social security benefits,” asserted Iqbal while talking to the Express Tribune.