<p>With work dwindling during the pandemic, many railway porters in Bengaluru have switched professions.</p>.<p>The reasons are many: fewer people are travelling, and the ones who do travel aren’t carrying heavy luggage.</p>.<p>Many trains were cancelled in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. Almost full scale operations resumed a year ago.</p>.<p>The Bengaluru Cantonment station has 52 licensed porters. Some like Satish Kumar are looking for other jobs. “I have a debt of Rs 50,000 to clear,” he says.</p>.<p>Suresh Prabhu, a 50-year-old porter at the KSR City Railway Station, is set to join a security agency by the end of November.</p>.<p>“I have two children and I want their education to continue uninterrupted,” he says. He says hanging around at the station without work is taking a toll on his mental health.</p>.<p><span class="bold">Long hours</span></p>.<p>Most porters work 12 to 14 hours a day. Fifty-six-year-old Sadashivam, working for 20 years at the Cantonment station, says NGOs and railway officials helped porters in the initial months of the pandemic.</p>.<p>“Only passengers coming from Guwahati carry heavy luggage. Those from other cities don’t carry much,” he says.</p>.<p>KSR City Railway Station has 282 porters. “We have not been getting a regular income for more than a year. Many of us are planning to quit in December,” says Kavi Urs from Tamil Nadu, working there for 10 years. </p>.<p>Ravikumar, another porter, is soon taking up the job of a driver with a private company.</p>.<p><strong>Rules for porters</strong></p>.<p>A porter can’t charge more than Rs 75 to Rs 100 for a job.</p>.<p>A senior official at the city station says porters are issued licences by the railways and are bound by rules and regulations.</p>.<p>“They are allowed to charge between Rs 75 and Rs 100. If they use trolleys then they can charge an extra fee," says the official.</p>.<p>Porters are not railway employees, but if they hold a licence, they get some benefits.</p>.<p>“They are entitled to admit their wards to schools run by the railways and get a pass once a year to travel,” says Aneesh Hedge, chief public relations officer, South Western Railways.</p>.<p>Licences can be cancelled if porters are guilty of overcharging, rudeness, damaging luggage, and drinking on duty. Porters caught stealing immediately lose their licences. </p>
<p>With work dwindling during the pandemic, many railway porters in Bengaluru have switched professions.</p>.<p>The reasons are many: fewer people are travelling, and the ones who do travel aren’t carrying heavy luggage.</p>.<p>Many trains were cancelled in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. Almost full scale operations resumed a year ago.</p>.<p>The Bengaluru Cantonment station has 52 licensed porters. Some like Satish Kumar are looking for other jobs. “I have a debt of Rs 50,000 to clear,” he says.</p>.<p>Suresh Prabhu, a 50-year-old porter at the KSR City Railway Station, is set to join a security agency by the end of November.</p>.<p>“I have two children and I want their education to continue uninterrupted,” he says. He says hanging around at the station without work is taking a toll on his mental health.</p>.<p><span class="bold">Long hours</span></p>.<p>Most porters work 12 to 14 hours a day. Fifty-six-year-old Sadashivam, working for 20 years at the Cantonment station, says NGOs and railway officials helped porters in the initial months of the pandemic.</p>.<p>“Only passengers coming from Guwahati carry heavy luggage. Those from other cities don’t carry much,” he says.</p>.<p>KSR City Railway Station has 282 porters. “We have not been getting a regular income for more than a year. Many of us are planning to quit in December,” says Kavi Urs from Tamil Nadu, working there for 10 years. </p>.<p>Ravikumar, another porter, is soon taking up the job of a driver with a private company.</p>.<p><strong>Rules for porters</strong></p>.<p>A porter can’t charge more than Rs 75 to Rs 100 for a job.</p>.<p>A senior official at the city station says porters are issued licences by the railways and are bound by rules and regulations.</p>.<p>“They are allowed to charge between Rs 75 and Rs 100. If they use trolleys then they can charge an extra fee," says the official.</p>.<p>Porters are not railway employees, but if they hold a licence, they get some benefits.</p>.<p>“They are entitled to admit their wards to schools run by the railways and get a pass once a year to travel,” says Aneesh Hedge, chief public relations officer, South Western Railways.</p>.<p>Licences can be cancelled if porters are guilty of overcharging, rudeness, damaging luggage, and drinking on duty. Porters caught stealing immediately lose their licences. </p>