As thousands of railway coolies across India face joblessness due to the government’s decision to privatise porter services at stations, senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has announced he will once again take up their cause in Parliament. After meeting with members of the community on Tuesday, Sanjay Singh pointed out that the Centre is turning a blind eye to the repeated pleas raised in the House.
The AAP MP contrasted the current neglect with the tenure of Lalu Prasad Yadav, under whose policy nearly 20,000 coolies were formally employed in the Railways. “Privatisation has robbed these workers of their dignity and livelihood. I’ve raised this issue multiple times, but the government has remained indifferent. Now, I will raise their voice in Parliament with even greater force,” said Sanjay Singh, vowing to stand firmly with the community in their fight for justice.
Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh held a press conference at the party headquarters along with members of the porter (coolie) community, stating, “Ever since there have been railway stations, there have been porters carrying people’s burdens. A film was even made on their struggles — Coolie. We meet them during travel, they carry our luggage, and then we forget them. No one listens to their pain. When Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister, he had introduced a policy to provide railway jobs to one family member of each porter. Around 22,000 porters were given employment under this scheme. But nearly 20,000 porters are still waiting to be hired,” said Sanjay Singh.
He added that the issue of porters being denied jobs has been raised multiple times in Parliament, yet successive governments have failed to act. Now, the Modi government has handed over even porter work to private hands, pushing the community further into distress.
“Earlier, porters earned some income through the CoolieMaa app. But privatisation has taken that away as well. Today, they have neither government jobs nor consistent work. Porters across India’s railway stations are struggling to survive — they don’t even have enough to eat. How are they supposed to feed their families? This is the real crisis. I will raise this issue prominently in the upcoming Parliament session. And if porters choose to protest at Jantar Mantar or elsewhere, I will join their agitation,” Sanjay Singh declared.
Also present at the press conference was National Convenor of the Rashtriya Coolie Morcha Ram Suresh Yadav. He demanded that all remaining porters be accommodated in the Railways under the same 2008 policy introduced by Lalu Prasad Yadav. “Technologies like escalators and lifts haven’t significantly impacted porter work, but the government has handed over porter operations to private contractors. As a result, there is hardly any work left for porters,” he said.
Ram Suresh Yadav further revealed that in the previous Parliament session, Sanjay Singh had raised this issue and forced a response from the Railways Minister. “The Minister had claimed that the government was providing porters with education, healthcare, uniforms, drinking water, and rest house facilities. But none of these are available at any railway station in the country. Even after the Railway Board’s directives, these basic amenities have not been provided.”
“Even if these benefits are eventually delivered, what good are they if the work itself has been privatised?” asked Ram Suresh Yadav. “Private companies will hire their own people. When we don’t have work, how can we educate our children or run our homes? We demand that, just like in 2008, all remaining porters be given employment in the Railways. Lalu Prasad Yadav had promised that porters aged 18–50 would be absorbed into the Railways, and those left out would have their children employed. That promise remains unfulfilled. We demand that every porter be formally absorbed into the Indian Railways,” he said.
