KARACHI:
The practice of sending workers into raw sewage gutters for cleaning and unclogging purposes violates human dignity, threatens human life and tramples on the fundamental human rights provided by the Constitution. It is unfortunate that even in 2026, Pakistan continues to send its sanitation workers into sewage gutters. Many die and others receive life-threatening diseases and injuries. Worldwide, the practice of entry into sewerage gutters for cleaning and unblocking tasks has been completely prohibited and replaced by mechanical means and equipment. India has gone a step further in also legislating this prohibition.
I would like to appeal to the Prime Minister and all the Chief Ministers to issue immediate executive orders to: 1) Completely prohibit entry of workers into sewage gutters and order that this task, like all other civilised countries, be performed by machines instead. 2) Declare that anyone forcing, contracting or engaging a worker to enter a sewage gutter would be indulging in an unlawful act and held accountable. 3) Compensate the families of all those who died working in sewage gutters in the last one year by an amount equivalent to the compensation paid to families of Gul Plaza victims. 4) Rehabilitate all existing sanitation workers engaged in this inhumane activity by giving them training and new skills.
Naeem Sadiq
Karachi
