Peanuts for pensioners: Sleepless nights on an empty stomach give Khatoon a death wish

The best son in the world still provides for his mother after his tragic death; but not for long

KARACHI:

Saeeda Khatoon lives in a one-room house built on a hill in Orangi Town. It has been three years since she lit the stove, courtesy of an incident that turned her world upside down. Used to living hand-to-mouth by now, Khatoon has made a habit of skipping lunch. She takes for dinner what is left over from breakfast — a bun, biscuits and tea that she gets from a nearby café.

The single room has a mattress, a water cooler, a few utensils and an iron cupboard. The most prominent fixture in the room is the portrait of a young bespectacled boy with thick burly hair. He stares down at the room from the far wall.



“You see him,” says Khatoon, pointing towards the picture. “He is Ayaan, the best son in the world. Very caretaking; always inclined to give me comfort,” she tells The Express Tribune in her soft waspy voice. “He bought me this house.”

Ayaan [alias for Ijaz Ahmed] is no more. He was hardly 18 when he was killed in the Baldia factory fire that claimed the lives of 259 workers in September, 2012. He was Khatoon’s only son. She describes him as very young: his moustache had not even started appearing.



“Though he has gone far away now, he still finds a way to take care of me,” she smiles. Her face is torn between misery and pride. “He bears all my expenses; insists that I eat and take care of my health.”

After Ayaan’s death, Khatoon is left to make ends meet on a pension she receives in his name. She is unable to do hard labour because of her old age and the demise of her ‘beloved’ son has left her even more broken. “The pension is around Rs5,250 rupees since July this year. Earlier, it was Rs3,600,” she added. “Thanks to the Almighty, I have a roof over my head,” she says raising her hands towards the sky.

The pension she receives, however, is for a limited time. “It was meant to be for five years, three of which have passed already,” she says worriedly. “Maybe after that, he will come back or I will join him.” A strange calm settles on her face as she thinks about the prospects.

Stories of a kind

The neighbourhood comprises largely people from the working class. Several have been affected by the Baldia factory fire. When The Express Tribune visited her, a large number of pensioners, holding pictures of their lost ones, converged there. Many of them faced the same issue.



“At least 40 dead bodies were brought to this muhalla only,” recalled an elderly man, whom people called as Aziz Bhai. “They all were young, unmarried, except a few.”

According to the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution payment schedule, the wife or husband of a deceased person will receive pension for their lifetime. In case the person is unmarried, the parents will be paid for five years only.

EOBI rules

“These rules are being followed since the institution was established following the enactment of the Employees Old-Age Benefits Act in 1976,” explained an official at the EOBI.

“The payment schedule, rules and regulations are set by legislators,” he says, adding that after the 18th Amendment, the subject had become a provincial issue. “Therefore, any changes will be done through them. The institution itself can’t do anything.”

EOBI registration is compulsory. Employers are obliged to get their employees registered with the institution, ensuring social insurance.

Yet most employers don’t do so, maintained Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation — a conglomerate of labour unions. “According to our estimates, approximately 80 million people are working in the industrial sector across the country. Of these, only five per cent are registered with the EOBI.”



In the case of the Baldia factory fire, he says, workers were registered after their deaths.

“Only some officials of the factory were registered with the EOBI. The rest were registered when the issue was raised after the fire,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th,  2015.