Railway Porter No. 6362 at Kanpur Central is learning how to read, write

Union Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had announced in the Railway Budget that porters would be absorbed as gangmen. But most of the porters are illiterate and have not crossed Class VIII in school, the minimum qualification for such jobs. Out of the 402 porters in Kanpur, only 40-odd are eligible.

They had lost hope but when MoS Narainbhai J Ratha visited the station, he assured them that the minimum qualification would be waived if they cleared the basic eligibility test.

Each student is expected to bring a pencil and a piece of paper with him while a text-book on Hindi and English, costing Rs 12, is provided by the association of porters, which has organised the coaching classes. They find volunteers from within the Railway staff to teach.

“The attendance depends on the arrival and departure time of trains, therefore, there is a major fluctuation in the number of porters attending the classes,” said the president of the Kanpur Coolie Association and Indian National Trade Union Congress member, Atul Tripathi.

He said the coaching would be streamlined soon and more porters would join the classes. “The concept is barely a few days old, and the response we are getting is overwhelming,” said Tripathi.

After carrying the luggage of passengers for more than three decades, porter number 6362 at Kanpur Central, Sanlah, never thought he would get a better job. “At least, now I know how to sign and in a few weeks, I will be able to understand what is written in an official document,” he said. Railways Ministry officials, when contacted, said that various Zonal Railways have started recruiting porters as gangmen on “ad-hoc basis”. “Porters who meet the physical criteria are being recruited on ad-hoc basis as gangmen.

However, since the job of a gangman requires some degree of literacy, Railways have decided to facilitate the task of getting these porters to achieve literacy within the next two months so as to prepare them for the examination they will need to take to get their ad-hoc job confirmed,” a Railways ministry official said. “Although the ministry has not passed a formal order to this effect, all the Zonal Railways have been advised to arrange for facilities and teachers from Railways’ own resources to help make these porters literate,” the official added.