Kerala: TTEs to lay down on platforms on Workers Day

On International Workers’ Day, hundreds of Traveling Ticket Examiners (TTEs) who feel aggrieved by their government-imposed denial of proper resting facilities at major railway stations will stage a unique protest by refusing to use the restrooms at Palakkad Junction, Shoranur Junction, Kannur, and Mangalore Junction, opting instead to lie down on the platforms to take a break.

Members of the Joint Action Council told TNIE that TTEs aren’t even given clean, well-kept bathrooms or enough mattresses. Almost twice as many TTEs are forced to share a bed in most bathrooms at any one time. Even for women TTEs, who now make up 30% of the workforce, there isn’t a sufficient or hygienic place to relax,” a JASC member said.

The JAC is made up of the following trade unions: Ticket Examiners Welfare Forum, Mazdoor Union, Employees Sangh, Southern Railway Employees Union, and Railway Ticket Checking Staff Organization. At ten in the morning, the protest program will begin simultaneously at the train terminals.

The TTEs said that they are already under extreme pressure to search up to five compartments in a single job and to collect the maximum penalties from passengers who violate the law or lack a ticket. After our task, we are utterly worn out. In addition, we are denied access to fundamental amenities in accordance with the Railway Board’s directive, which was issued more than ten years ago,” a TTE said, pleading to remain anonymous.

The Kerala State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) launched a complaint against the Railways for failing to provide sufficient facilities for female TTEs to relax after work while it was considering a different matter. Within 30 days of thoroughly reviewing the complaint, the Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) of Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions were instructed by the SHRC to submit a report. When reviewing the complaint submitted by the DREU (Palakkad) divisional secretary V Sujith, the acting chairman of the SHRC and judicial member K Baijunath said that the matter would be discussed during the commission’s June meeting in Palakkad. The complaint mentions that facilities for TTEs are not being provided by the railway division officials in Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad as directed by the Railway Board ten years ago.