Unwelcome decision: PSM hikes grave charges for nonemployees, daily wagers

Union members term the move ‘unjust, inhumane’, social activists to challenge it in court

KARACHI:

Despite being exclusively created for its staffers and their families, the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) has always allowed a limited number of nonemployees to bury their loved ones in its official graveyard. Lately, however, there has been a 100 per cent increase in the allocation of graves to nonemployees. Although it may seem like a humane gesture, the facility, it seems, is only available to the rich residents of the area as the PSM has made the graves very costly, The Express Tribune has learned.

To top it all off, the PSM has also increased the cost of graves for the daily-wage workers of the mills, a move that might deprive them of using the facility despite serving the company for many years.

The PSM’s graveyard is located next to Steel Township, the official residential colony of the public-sector entity. Permanent employees of the PSM can use the graveyard and bury their loved ones there at no cost. However, contractual and daily-wage employees have to pay some money for each grave. The facility was also previously available to a limited number of nonemployees residing in the area at very affordable rates.

Last week, PSM’s administration suddenly increased the charges of graves for nonemployees, raising it from Rs4,000 per grave to Rs10,000. According to the official notice displayed outside the graveyard, until August 2009, nonemployees only had to pay Rs1,000 per grave which was only increased by Rs400 since then.

On the other hand, the PSM had previously been charging Rs4,000 per grave from its contractual and daily-wage employees but from now onwards, daily-wage workers will be required to pay an inflated amount of Rs7,000 per grave. No increase in the cost, however, has been announced for its contractual employees.

According to PSM spokesperson Chaudhry Muhammad Afzal, an increase in rates for nonemployees is aimed at discouraging them from using the graveyard facility at large.

“The Steel Town graveyard has been exclusively created for its employees, but later on, the PSM management started allowing private burials only to facilitate the residents of the nearby area,” he said.

Pakistan Steel Mills Workers’ Union Chairperson Shamshad Qureshi, however, termed the decision “cruel and inhumane.”

“The majority of people living in PSM’s surrounding areas comprise families of former employees of the PSM. Their elders had served the PSM their whole lives,” he said. “Instead of facilitating them, PSM management has increased the rates of graves.”

He added that the daily-wage workers of the PSM already made less money and enjoyed limited facilities as compared to the permanent employees.

“Increasing the graveyard charges for them is unjust. These workers already face financial difficulties due to the late issuance of salaries,” Qureshi stressed.

Meanwhile, social activists of the area are preparing to challenge the decision in a court of law. The founder of Sujag Shaikh Welfare Association Sindh Sadruddin Shaikh said he, along with other activists, would file a petition in the Sindh High Court on Monday (August 17) against the decision.

“There are only two graveyards in the area, including the PSM one, to accommodate a population of 500,000,” he said. “On top of that, most of the people residing near the PSM belong to the lower socio-economic class. This move is extremely unfair.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2020.