Kolkata: Acting on a viral Facebook post by an engineer who alleged that a group of porters at Howrah station charged him Rs 4,700 — nearly 21 times the usual fare — for carrying seven trolley bags and four hand luggage pieces, Eastern Railway identified and arrested one of the porters, refunded the excess amount to the passenger and launched a drive against such extortion at the station on Monday. Multiple porters have already been picked up during the drive by the RPF.The action followed a Facebook post by Arunabha Mukherjee, assistant engineer of a major construction firm, which went viral. Mukherjee alleged that the porters initially refused to quote a fare before demanding Rs 6,000 and later settling for Rs 5,500. He eventually paid Rs 4,700 — Rs 3,000 through UPI and Rs 1,700 in cash — after, he alleged, the porter threatened to leave his luggage in the rain and later throw it off the train if he did not pay.Mukherjee was travelling to Mumbai with his wife, four-month-old daughter, elderly mother and maid as the family was relocating from Cooch Behar. He said the incident took place around 5 am on Friday when it was raining heavily and he got off his car at the station parking area with seven trolley bags and four hand luggage pieces. “It was raining heavily and the porter came to us and offered help. I asked them how much they would charge, but they kept picking up the luggage, saying they wouldn’t charge much. It was only midway that they said they wanted Rs 5,500 and threatened to throw the luggage if we did not pay,” Mukherjee said.With his infant daughter and elderly mother accompanying him, and his train about to depart, Mukherjee said he felt he had little choice but to comply. “Once we reached the train, the porters threatened to call more men and throw the luggage out if we did not pay. I had no option but to pay them Rs 4,700,” he said.In his FB post he said he had to pay only Rs 800 to a coolie at CSMT station in Mumbai for the same luggage. He also posted screenshots of the online payment, photographs of the luggage and details of the person who received the money, urging Eastern Railway to verify the authorised porter tariff and check CCTV footage.After the post went viral, the ER publicity office contacted Mukherjee and recorded his complaint. Officials also obtained the screenshot of the online transaction, which helped them trace the porter. “We tracked down the main porter, Munna Yadav, and handed him over to RPF. He was arrested and his licence has been cancelled. The authorised charge for carrying the luggage should have been only Rs 220. We refunded the excess amount to the passenger,” said Utpal Dutta, publicity manager, Eastern Railway.“It has emerged that Munna had a group of porters operating under him who were involved in such extortion. We have identified them and are taking action. Several porters have already been picked up by the RPF,” he said.
