First ever Railway recruitment for women porters

Allahabad Railway begins first ever recruitment for women porters

Allahabad: First ever lot of women candidates appeared for the physical aptitude test conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board at Allahabad on Thursday for the post of porters. This is the first time that the Allahabad Division of North Central Railway has included the category of women for the porters' job. Out of the 26 applicants, 18 women appeared for the test to show their physical mettle by carrying a weight of 25 kilograms to cover 200 metres in 4 minutes. These enthusiastic women put their best foot forward on the last day of the selection process. Landing a government job of a porter will be a dream-come-true for these women who come from economically poor background. "What else can we do sir? We are doing this out of compulsion," noted Rita, an aspirant for the post of porter at Allahabad. Another aspirant candidly shared her thoughts by saying if she gets the job of a porter she will be happy to continue her studies. "My mother died when I was young. My father raised me. We are from very poor family. I have studied by doing menial jobs," says Urmila, a hopeful aspirant for the job of a railway porter at Allahabad. Thousands of applications were received by the RRBA for porter's job. "The selection process of porters is going on in the Allahabad Division. We are taking both men and women porters this time. There are only 344 vacancies but 4,800 people have applied for it," said R D Bajpai, an officer. Those who get through this selection criteria will be short-listed and as per the merit list they will be finally engaged by the Indian Railways. Once the selection process is over, women porters could be a common sight on the platform of Allahabad railway station, a vocation which hitherto was reckoned to be one of male bastion.
-July 30, 2009

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