Child labour on the rise in garrison city

Underaged children forced to work in workshops, bus stands, markets and public transport

RAWALPINDI:

With the incessant rise in inflation, poverty and unemployment, child labour has increased exponentially in Rawalpindi city.

A large number of children aged between six to 14 years are forced to work in workshops, bus stands, markets, public transport, public parks, roadside stalls and construction projects. Several children could be seen scavenging and picking up plastic and papers from garbage piles to make a living.

The Rawalpindi Labor Department, which is responsible for the protection of children’s rights, has completely failed to enforce the law.

Rehman Khan, 11, who makes a living by collecting papers and discarded plastic bottles, told The Express Tribune that his father has passed away and he has to take care of his widowed mother and three younger siblings.

Rehman, who hailed Bajaur Agency district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, said that the family had to shift to Rawalpindi as there was no work back in his hometown and poverty was all-pervading.

"I live in a slum near Nullah Leh with no other source of income. I collect papers and plastic bottles to make a living,” he said adding: “I get up early in the morning and work till 10 pm. I collect plastic and papers that fetch me between Rs300 and Rs500 daily. If I don't work, my mother and younger siblings will starve".

He said that he did not work out of craving but poverty has forced him to work. He said that different government agencies never asked him what financial issues he was facing and why he was compelled to work at such a young age.

“No relatives bother to help us either,” he said.

Ghulam Hussain, 13, who works in the Islamabad fruit market, said that he had been earning money by lifting heavy things for people for the last two years. He said that his father was ailing and he has his mother and younger sister who depend on him for his livelihood. He said that he has to pay Rs9,000 in rent for the room he was living in.

He said that many elderly men and women who visit the market could not carry heavy weight themselves and he helped them carry their things from the market to the car parking area in his basket or handcart and in return they pay him. Hussain said that most people who visit the market pay him a good wage by taking into consideration his childhood.

He said that Rs200 is a fixed wage from the market to the parking lot but most people pay him Rs250 or Rs300.

"I run the house from the wage I get from the market and also spend the money on the medical expenses of my ailing father," he said adding that "I am not in a position to carry out my studies. If I study, who would support my family?"

Salman, a vendor, who had engaged several children as labourers, said that "there are two benefits of engaging children as labourers. One was that they did not get tired and the other was that they work on low wages as compared to the market rate. “That is the reason that every vendor tries to get work from children. The elderly labourers demand more money,” he said.

He said that no organisation has ever paid a visit to the market to check why and under what conditions the children work. “They are the children of the poor, earning their own living and raising their own families. There is nothing wrong in it,” he said.

A large number of child labourers are employed at the Pirwadhai General Bus Stand, Swan Bus Terminal, Raja Bazaar, Salt Market, Vegetable Market, Grain Market, Poultry Market and various flea markets and workshops across the city. These child labourers belong to poor families.

The Rawalpindi Labor Department has turned a blind eye to the issue.

Several attempts were made to contact the Labour Rawalpindi Department Director Fazal Hussain but he could not be reached as he was not available in the office.

Officials at the labour department said that no one was authorised to give any opinion on child labour except for the director. However, they admitted that a large number of underaged children have opted for work in recent years.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2022.