Burden on its head

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav may have endeared himself temporarily to thousands of licensed porters by announcing their appointment as gangmen in the Rail Budget speech. Executing the decision, however, is proving to be a tough task for his ministry. Jittery over the fact that the move may end up creating a shortage of licensed porters at railway stations, thereby causing difficulties to the travelling public, the Railway Ministry has been forced to undertake a massive exercise to assess how many porters are required at each station and transfer porters from stations where their numbers are in surplus to places where a shortfall is likely to occur. But more than that, what has the Railways stumped now is the fact that hundreds of porters who opted for the post of gangmen have, failing to cope with the rigours of the job, already had a change of heart and are now demanding reinstatement as porters.