Cover nose for news

Batti Lal, one of the four coolies, said that they were approached by photographers who claimed that they were from some news agencies, saying asein agency dei bande haan (we are from the agency) and handed them some face masks. ‘‘They asked us to wear them, saying it was to show the unhygienic conditions at the railway station and how coolies were fighting the stench on the platforms,’’ he said.

Another coolie, Sajjan, said they were told that their photographs appearing in newspapers would help improve the condition of the railway station. Interestingly, these porters said that no trains were to depart from the station at the time when the photographs were clicked although they were shown carrying luggage.

Four porters were asked to carry the luggage of some passengers waiting at the platform. These masks were then taken back by the lensmen after the photos were clicked.

Amar Singh, president of the coolie union here, has flayed misrepresentation of facts, while the porters faced the wrath of their fellow workers too.

‘‘Bira and Sewa were two other coolies who were given masks. But neither the authorities have given us any masks, nor would we wear them, as it would only lead to our losing our jobs,’’ said one Mukhtiar Singh, thinking that wearing a mask meant that the person wearing it was suffering from SARS.

Meanwhile, Deputy Medical Commissioner Dr Jagjit Kaur said that only preventive and precautionary measures can be taken at all the terminus points since SARS can be diagnosed only after complicated and elaborate tests at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Delhi or Pune where the virology tests are conducted.

‘‘Media should inform the public that the incubation period of this virus is 10-12 days. It takes another one week for the reports after symptomatic diagnosis. We cannot detain hundreds of passengers arriving at the airport or the Wagah border and thousands at the railway station everyday for 20-30 days,’’ she said.

Subhash Malhotra, the Photo Editor of PTI in Delhi which released the photograph, said he was busy and that he would give his comments later.

Photographer Harpreet Singh, who sent the photograph to the PTI here, when contacted, said he had clicked the photograph of the coolies when he spotted some of them wearing masks.

Manish Byala, the photographer who provided the photograph to Reuters, said a source told him that some porters were tying handkerchiefs around their faces and when he reached the spot, he found that somebody was distributing masks to these coolies which he clicked.