WE want more: A porter carries goods at the Ranchi railway station. Pix: Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, March 4: The “men in red” are becoming pricey.

Ever since the minister announced that porters would be accorded the status of “Group D” employees in the Indian Railways, they have increased their rate.

Passengers who have been employing porters to ferry their luggage since the railway budget was announced, point out that porters are now demanding at least Rs 10 more than the usual rate — irrespective of the luggage size.

The men-in-uniform have also started feeling “important”, just like government employees, passengers said.

“I asked a porter how much he would charge for ferrying my luggage from the platform no. 2 of the Ranchi railway station to the auto-rickshaw stand. He demanded Rs 40 right away, which was Rs 20 more as compared to other days. The deal finally settled at Rs 35,” said Arvind Kumar, a government official.

He had arrived at the Ranchi railway station via the Delhi-Ranchi Rajdhani Express.

Many other passengers, like Kumar, are waking up to this sudden increase in the porters’ rate. And all this has begun since the Union railway minister showered his blessings on them.

One of the passengers said that porters at the Dhanbad station also have also increased their rate.

“I hired a porter three days ago. He demanded Rs 60 to carry my luggage. Finally we agreed at Rs 40,” said Seema Prasad, who was travelling to Ranchi on the Howrah-Ranchi Shatabdi Express.

According to the standard norms, a luggage weighing 37kg should only be charged Rs 7 for a 10-minute walk. But the moment the time increases, the rate gets doubled (Rs 14). If the weight of the luggage exceeds 37kg and the distance too increases, the rate increases to Rs 24.

From platform no. 2 of the Ranchi railway station to the autorickshaw stand, is barely a 10-minute walk. The porter should, therefore, charge Rs 7 for carrying luggage below 37kg, which is seldom the case.

Thus, given the distance of the platform from the autorickshaw stand, the maximum charge should not be more than Rs 14.

But now porters are charging up to Rs 40 for this distance.

When asked, the porters denied that any rate hike has happened.

“We are happy about Lalu Prasad’s declaration but we are not charging any extra money from passengers. These may be sporadic cases. We have not taken any such decision,” said Shankar Tantia, the leader of the Porters’ Union at the Ranchi-Hatia railway station.

There are as many as 82 porters at the Ranchi railway station while another 12 are stationed at Hatia.

Now, passengers fear that the porters, who have been promised upgradation to “Group D”, would become more costly once they are actually inducted into the Indian Railways.