Porters battle for their LoC

IF YOU are unable to distinguish between the Northern and North Eastern sides of Charbagh railway station, ask porters. They have an answer. Nowadays, they are engaged in a ?territorial dispute?.

IF YOU are unable to distinguish between the Northern and North Eastern sides of Charbagh railway station, ask porters. They have an answer. Nowadays, they are engaged in a ‘territorial dispute’.

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The NR and NER porters have vowed not to allow ‘poaching’ on passengers from each other’s territory. The differences among the railway porters came to the fore following an incident involving an officer of the NER junction stripping NR porters of their badges for carrying luggage to the NER-side.

In retaliation, NR porters shot off a letter to divisional railway manager (NER) Amitabh Lal asking him to ‘take back’ 50 porters who are deputed to the NR-side following a crisis due to gauge conversion at the junction in 1983.

The NER porters maintained that their counterparts in the NR had never accepted the 50 shifted porters. They are still treated as outsiders. The fact remains that over a period of time, the number of trains operating from the NER has increased to 45. It is 60 in the NR. “We should be allowed to work in the NER-side,” said Yaar Mohammad. But Ram Bali Yadav of the NER said NR porters can lift passenger luggage only in the absence of NER ones. About 700 porters (550 for the NR and 150 for the NER) have been working at the station.

An hour-long meeting of the representatives from the NR and NER porters’ union met at the Station Manager (NER) D K Srivastava’s chamber. He tried to pacify the agitated porters and explained to them that the NR and NER were part of the railways, and the division of the station was not proper. The infighting among porters should not become the cause of inconvenience to the passengers, he said.

However, as of now the issue was resolved at the SM’s office. But, heated arguments among porters went on as usual even after the meeting.