Mumbai’s world-renowned Dabbawalas have demanded that they be provided with a luggage compartment in the air-conditioned local trains, 130 of which are currently running on the Central and Western suburban sections.
“More than 100 air-conditioned local services are running in the suburban sections. The Railway is planning to purchase more such rakes in future. We demand a separate luggage compartment in the AC locals to accommodate Dabbawalas," said Subhash Talekar, leader of Mumbai Dabbawalas Association.
Currently around a thousand Dabbawalas are serving more than 25,000 Mumbaikars daily, according to Talekar.
"The local trains are the lifeline for every citizen of Mumbai and demands of our community must be heard by the authorities,” said Talekar adding, “When a fully air-conditioned local train arrives on the platform, our dabbawalas do not know what to do. Their timings go haywire as even a five-to-eight minutes’ delay affects the supply chain. In future, if there are more AC locals on CR and WR, it will be difficult for dabbawalas to deliver tiffin boxes to customers on time.”
