Just Because They Are Specially Abled, Indian Railways Asks Graduates To Work As Sweepers!

Biswanath Sahu and his pregnant wife, both visually impaired, thought their misery was at an end when Sahu managed to pass an Indian Railways exam in March this year. He received a letter from the Delhi Division of the railways about his appointment as an electrical khalasi (helper).

A fortnight after his joining date, he was issued another letter, this time designating him a safaiwala.

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Sahu hasn't yet told his elder sister about his job. The 44-year-old says it is mortifying to have to tell her that he is a sanitation worker.

But Sahu is not the only one whose joy has been short-lived. His co-worker, Shahdab Alam, a graduate of Delhi University, also claims to have received a letter appointing him to the post of computer operator and then yoked in as a member of the sanitation staff. There are 53 others who have similarly been issued new letters of appointment.

According to his joining letter, Sahu was to report for work on March 15, 2016. "On April 4, we were reissued fresh joining letters with revised designations," he said. "From electrical khalasi, my post was changed to safaiwala." He says he approached senior officials, wrote to organisations working for the differently abled, even reached out to his supervisor, but no one got back. "I am clueless about what to do," said Sahu.

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Sahu and Alam, both posted at the railway colony near Sabzi Mandi railway station, decided not to work to protest this humiliating treatment at the hand of the railways. The men sit idle during their work day from 7am to 3pm. "We have qualified the railways exam to reach here, but we are being forced by officials to mop floors, lift garbage and clean sewage at the railway hospitals and residential colonies. We are boycotting work in protest," said Sahu.

Ameen Khan too has joined the protest in the company of Alam and Sahu. Khan, posted as a sanitation worker at a railways hospital in Old Delhi, says he was handed an appointment letter recruiting him for the post of wireless operator, but later deployed to the sanitation crew. "It is an injustice. I have written to some groups that work with people with disabilities," said Khan. "Though no help has been extended to me so far, I hope the government considers us and makes an effort to improve our lives."

In response, officials claim that placements were made as per the rules framed by the Railway Board. "At the division level, recruitment can only be made for the post of sanitation workers," said a senior official of the Delhi Division. Refuting the allegations of having flouted rules or discriminated against some of them, the officials the men were picked up through direct recruitment and have been placed in sanitation jobs wherever required.

Though being brave about it, the three men are anxious that their protest could boomerang on them. They aren't sure if they will get their first salaries when they complete a month of work. Alam said, "We don't even know if our attendance is being recorded. It takes me an hour to come to this place and it's not that I don't want to work. But why should I obey them when they are wrong? I will fight for my dignity till the end."