RAILWAY PORTERDS-201 Field Survey & Method – IMEMBER:Hasan Zafar (DS-04)

Ramsha Naz (DS-010)

Arsalan Ahmed (DS-17)

Maheen Arif (DS-20)

Sajjad Mehdi (DS-24)

Mashood Tariq (DS-34)

Zainab Arif (DS-40)

PURPOSE OF RESEARCH•Railway Ministry of Pakistan generates revenue of about 36 Billion rupees, annually;• Contributing 4% in Pakistan’s GDP. •Porter has worked to help passengers but not receiving any facilities neither from government nor their contractor. So the report mingles around the life of coolies

and the hardship they face in their daily life

BACKGROUND:

KC and KYC are the oldest railway station in Pakistan as they were declared protected Heritage Building of Karachi by Sindh Government.

Our Research is to know what facilities are being provided for porters at both Railway Station.

METHODOLGY: Our aim was to collect an interview from every stakeholder:1. Railway Porter.2. Railway Administration.3. Railway Police.4. Jamadar (Washroom Staff)5. Porter’s Contractor6. Passengers

• QUALITATIVE

DATA TYPE

• INFORMAL SETTING

INTERVIEW

PROBLEM AND OVERCOMING DURING INTERVIEW:

PROBLEM Participant was

hesitating to share information, due to which either they were giving incomplete answers

All of the participants were feasible to talk in group of 2 to 4 porters which tends to have an effect on us making us feel to be out numbered.

OVERCOMING We disclose the

objective of our interview to the participant

We also increase our group member to balance the group and we counter each porter individually if they interrupt the interview.

SECONDARY LITERATURE:

Railways and Labor Rights: The Untold Story of Pakistan’s Porters:

Complaints by Passengers:

. Firstly, the train stops far away from main

gate by which they have no choice but to hire coolie and secondly,

their rates are not fixed and they charge at their

free will.

Problems of Coolies:

In 1990’s coolie earned 1600/day. Now they earn 500-700/day if

lucky.They wait in a queue for car. If car doesn’t hire any porter, porter will have to join the queue

from start.

Tender Notice (Islamabad, May 2016):

Geomentary (Geo News Documentary):

Contractor has to pay 200,000 as security charges. Uniform will be provided by contractor. Contractor should have 5 years of experience as coolie to become a contractor.

Rates are fixed. Rs.50 per trip per 40Kg will be charged by the coolies from the passengers.

Coolies sleep on platforms; The reason for the high number of coolies especially in Karachi if we compare it to other cities, most of them have come from other small cities and villages in search of job and better economic opportunities.

A Thesis on Indian Railway (For Comparison with Pakistan Railway): Porter is licensed by the Railways to earn a livelihood. He is

required to follow certain rules and regulations, failing which his license can be suspended.

Licensed porters do not enjoy facilities like pension, gratuity and insurance.

Licensed porters do not have the provision of taking voluntary retirement .

Since a porter’s license can be passed on from one generation to the next.

Since transfer of license to a near relative can take place only in case one has no son

.

The following is the list of officials who have been appointed by the Railways to deal with licensed railway porters

• Licensed Porter Inspector (LPI)

• Assistant Licensed Porter Inspector (ALPI)

• Licensed Porter Supervisor (LPS)

• Licensed Porter Jamadar (LPJ)

The Commercial Department publish advertisement , eligibility criterion, required documents and the application deadline.

Names of those selected for the job are submitted to the DRM. A list of selected candidates is put up at the DRM’s office.

A. Badge with license number inscribed.B. Two pairs of uniforms for the summer

and winter seasons respectively. For A-class stations, with over 150

porters, (Rs. 10/month) For B-class stations, with 50-150

porters, (Rs. 5/month)

Ranking Among Indian Coolies:

Hiring & Posting on the Stations:

PRIMARY RESEARCH: Why do people become “Coolie”?Reason Addressed by Coolies: Economic Opportunities and Low Income:

They don’t have many economic opportunities in there village so they earn very little there, or they don’t have any respect in their occupations.

There was a coolie which winded up his own business and started to work as coolie at Karachi Cantt. Jalal Uddin was operating his own small hotel (Dhaba) in Sukkur for 10 year, but winded it as he was having no profit.

Level of Education: Every coolie participated in our interviews, not done have

their Matriculation. Mostly coolies had only studied up-to 5-8 classes.

How a Coolie is hired? The Balla Number:You have to get a “Guarantor” who can assure your loyalty and Rs.100 for getting registration and “a Patta” or “a Balla Number” is allotted which becomes their identity. Coolie has to return “Patta” to the Contractor, if they are going on vacations; Rs.100 has to be given to reclaim it. Uniform:Uniform would be purchased by own self, which costs about Rs.700 excluding hiring charges, but it doesn’t make a difference; one should only get a green shirt which resembles their Uniform.

Organization among Coolies: There is Lari System, from which they divide passengers

among them. Coolie stand in a queue and waits for train, where ever the train stops, the coolie standing in front of the train’s gate will get to have the first passenger. If a passenger did not hire a coolie then that coolie will join the queue again from the last. Due to this system every coolie gets an equal chance to get a passenger

There is also another system, if something is broke or damage by a coolie. Then all the coolies at the station contribute little bit amount equally to full the cost of good that has damage.

Who is this Contractor? Through Auction of Tender:It is written in official paper of Railway Government that, “Coolie Contractor must have worked as Coolie Jamadar for five year, and have a Domicile of respective city. Karachi City Station’ Coolie’s Contractor:M. Ashraf, Coolie’s Contractor at Karachi City Station, and He became a coolie in 1970, then after 10-12 year he was promoted to be a Coolie Jamadar and today he is Coolies contractor at Karachi City Station. Tender Cost:Karachi City Station has a tender for coolies of 10.2 Lacs while, Karachi Cantt. Station has a Crore. While a coolie at Karachi Cantt. Station had mentioned 60 Lacs to be the tender cost of the Contractor.

Facilities to a Coolie: Quarters allotted by Government:

Health Facility:

Coolie earn 500-700 per day, from which around 250-350 rupees is total expense of a coolie for a meal. If coolie fell ill, he has to arrange medicines by his own or take loan from the other coolies to arrange medicines for himself.

1

2

3

1

2 QuartersOwn House PlatformBoth (Quarter & Plat-form)

Distribution of Trollies for Coolies: There had been an official announcement for the

distribution of the trolleys, “At least 20 large trollies and 20 smart trollies would be introduced ;This announcement going to be a year old, but the progress to implementation is questionable.

Even on this official announcement for both railway stations; only Karachi city station seems to be working on this announcement, with 6 trollies which had been arranged by contractor. But government hasn’t landed any kind of support in this.

Continue…..

Allotment of Trollies, a Facility or a Liability:

Coolies at Karachi Cantt. Station shows any concern to this announcement; they replied to this that, even if Government allots them trollies it would not be of much helpful to them. As, Karachi Cantt. Station has stepped pedestrians. Washroom:At Karachi Cantt Station, everyone has to pay Rs.10 to utilize it. Even Coolies, those lives there have to also pay these charges.

Continue…..

Passenger: Passenger, which is the only source of Income to a Coolie.

Almost all passengers prefer to hire only coolie when they are with their family.

Although some passengers realize the need of coolies so hire two or more coolie if they have more luggage's; so more than one coolie can make his earning.

Recommendation by Respondents:

After concluding Interviews come of the respondents had recommended some things.

• They asked the government for more quarters.• There should also be quota for hiring coolies.• There should be Salary system for us.• The Contractor’s shares in our income should be reduced• Coolie’s Contractor at KYC, coolies department should be

nationalized and Basic Facilities like Food and Health should be provided to them.

Conclusion and Recommendation: Railway department, which generates about 36 billion rupees annually, but

still there is part of this institution which do work along it but still is not being facilitated by the basic needs. There are Laws, Rules and Regulation for providing health, and other facilities to the coolie.

Some facilities were observed to being provided to coolies at railway station like Quarters and Washrooms for coolies, but it was not good enough to accommodate all the coolies at the KC, which is creating discrimination among coolies.

The immediate solution to provide facilities to all coolies employed, both at railway stations, the quota should be imposed on employing of coolie at KC, while employing the excess coolies from KC should be hired at KYC, as the number of coolies at KYC is very low. But along this Number of train operating from KYC should also be increased.

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References:

http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/of-railways-and-labour-rights-the-untold-story-of-pakistans-porters/ http://pakrail.com/tender_files/6467_dsrwpauc280416.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCUaOXm-_8I http://ccs.in/internship_papers/2003/chap22.pdf http://dailybalochistantimes.com/%EF%BB%BFworking-conditions-of-coolies-revamped-by-pakistan-railways/

Related Reading: Coolies on contract: http://www.dawn.com/news/1252506 Railway porters to get trolleys: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/112705-Can-branded-uniforms-rest-lounges-really-

improve-working-conditions-for-porters 300 porters at Cantt protest the railway contract system; fight erupts, several injured: http://www.dawn.com/news/1250317 Railway to Restructure its Property and Land, Legal and IT Departments https://propakistani.pk/2017/03/20/railway-restructure-property-land-legal-departments/

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