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70 Christian WASA sanitary workers died from exposure of sewer gases since 1988. |
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LAHORE: September 22, 2008. (Khadijah Shah reports for PCP) Over 70 Christian sanitary workers have died since 1988 from exposure to harmful sewer gases during work, despite the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA)'s clear instructions that no worker should descend into a sewer without taking appropriate safety precautions.
Talking to ROD, most Christian sanitary workers said that they believe they are discriminated by their Muslim co-workers, who do not indulge in any sanitation work, even after recruitment. There are around 1,500 regular and 400 contractual workers, including 70 Muslim sewer workers.
However, the Muslim workers do not enter the sewers and usually just monitor the work.
The Minority Rights Commission (MRC), in a report 'Working Conditions of Sanitary Workers and Sewer men in Lahore', which is due today (Monday), said that since 1988, the WASA management had changed nine times, each promising to change the situation but failing. The report mentioned that the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) in 2005 had allocated Rs 2 million, but sewer men were still awaiting gas masks.
The report claimed that there were over 1,200 vacant jobs in the WASA, but people were reluctant to work in sewers.
Benefiting from the religion-based discriminatory culture, some Christian workers also claim to be Muslim to escape the poor jobs.
The report states that specific duty hours have not been prescribed for sanitary workers and that they should work an average of 10 to 12 hours daily. There is no seniority-based promotion system for the sanitary workers contrary to the WASA, where a professional promotion system exists for the employees, the report adds.
Most sanitary workers are Christians and Hindu Balmeekis, while the sewer men are mostly Christians and some Dindars (new converts to Islam). MRC Executive Director Younis Alam appealed to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to take steps for the betterment of the low ranking sanitary workers. He revealed that life insurance should be increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000. He stated that religious discrimination should be abolished and that the Muslim workers should also perform their duties. |
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