Defence ministry okays policy for porters in Indian Army

NEW DELHI:The defence ministry has approved a policy that looks at improving the logistics system of the Indian Army along the western front with Pakistan and eastern front with China.

The policy lays down the conditions for hiring porters by the army, which includes paying them a monthly wage of Rs 18,000 along with compensatory wages depending on the altitude of the area of employment, degree of difficulty and risk to life, besides also giving them army medical and ration facilities. This is a step forward from the way porters were employed and treated by the army in the past. They were hired on a daily wage basis and not given any such facilities.

The lack of basic facilities to porters was raised in the Supreme Court, which on January 2 last year felt that a better policy on porters needs to be made. The new policy is based on hiring civilian porters on a seasonal basis by the army in an operational area.