Twenty-two of the 25 porters at this main junction in Saurashtra are women above the age of 35 — one of the two factors that makes them ineligible for a government job that demands heavy physical work.

It was in 1880 that Takhtsinhji Thakor, the then ruler of Bhavnagar, started a rail link for his kingdom. With that he gave women from the Koli community permission to work as porters. He issued badges, recognised by the Bhavnagar state, to all the 40 porters appointed at that time. At Takhtisinhji's time, the badge could be passed on to a daughter only. While this has not become a rule, the community has followed the tradition even after Independence. Today, women porters without the batch are not allowed to work at the station.

But 55-year-old Hariben Chaganbhai, who has been working as a porter for close to 30 years now, feels the new Railway Budget won't change anything for her.

"I earn Rs 2,000-3,000 per month ferrying goods of passengers. I am not educated, but I do know that to become a gangman one needs some qualification and one has to be in the right age bracket. Given such conditions, nothing is going to change for me or other women porters in Bhavnagar," she said.

Gomtiben, 60, another porter, opines that either the Railway Minister doesn't know about women porters or he has simply ignored them. "I am happy for other porters. But the government should also consider cases of women like me," she says.

Like Gomtiben, Champaben Varmani has also been assisting her mother at the station since the age of 15. Now she is 40. "I have leant from my mother how luggage is to be taken care of, and how to earn the faith of a passenger," Champaben says." She says she charges anything between Rs 20-50, depending on the weight of the luggage. With a one long distance train and a couple of others of short distance, a porter on an average at Bhavnagar station earns anything around Rs 100 per day. Says Champaben, "Gangmen have two advantages. They earn around Rs 5,000 per month and they are also government employees."

She says while their income is not much to talk about, this job definitely helps them earn some extra money. Champaben explains how, over the years, she has supported her family with the help of this badge. "My husband works as a labourer. Sometimes he has a job, at other times he is jobless. But I always have some sort of income," she says.

"We also work as maids. So, that way, we can have multiple sources of income," adds Hariben, who believes a government job can just make the rest of their life more secured.

Mahavirsinh Gohil, chairman of Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh, is also sceptical that the new arrangement would be of any help to women porters. "Though the Railway Ministry has not issued any guidelines so far, but the parameter for the job of gangman like minimum SSC passed and 28 years of age in case of direct recruitment are expected to be followed."

Gohil said that of the nearly 4,000 gangmen in Gujarat, the number of women workers is not more than 50. Besides, these women were recruited as replacement following the death of a gangman, and rarely as a direct appointment.