Justice for sanitation workers

It is ironic that even after 75 years of independence, we are unwilling to stand up for millions of sanitation workers across Pakistan who continue to be cruelly exploited, socially segregated, religiously discriminated and emotionally degraded. They are provided demeaning, delayed and illegal wages, deprived of EOBI and forced to enter the sewers bubbling with raw human excreta, disease and poisonous fumes. Each one of us has contributed towards creating and tolerating these appalling, repulsive and demeaning conditions for our fellow citizens.

The sanitation workers of Pakistan are treated with cruelty, inhumanity and indignity — something that goes beyond words, beyond imagination and beyond the harshest scales of intolerance. It happens every day in every municipal committee, every cantonment, every Solid Waste Management Board, and every Water and Sewerage Department. It happens because we perfected the art of lip service to the much quoted “cleanliness is half of faith”, while adopting a cruel, oppressive and inhuman cast system, that sublets this half of the faith to non-Muslims. It happens because we all remain silent and look the other way.

Justice for Sanitation Workers is a civil rights movement to liberate our sanitation workers from the extreme social, financial and occupational injustices forced upon them. It also seeks to eliminate the manual scavenging of sewers and bring ease, respect, equality and prosperity in the lives of sanitation workers. It aims to alleviate their suffering, indignity, discrimination and sub-human working conditions. It is also an appeal to all conscientious Pakistanis to join hands and push for reforms in the four areas that critically impact upon the wellbeing and rights of sanitation workers.

Firstly, it is absolutely essential to ban all discriminatory advertisements that restrict the sanitation jobs to non-Muslims only. Such advertisements ought to be made a cognizable offence as they violate the very fundamentals of humanity as well as the Constitution of Pakistan. Second, regardless of the nature of job (regular, contractual or daily wage), every sanitation worker ought to be paid a salary that is at least 50% higher than the national minimum legal wage. Currently most sanitation workers are denied even the existing minimum wage. Third, every sanitation worker employed by any department should be issued a letter of appointment, registered with EOBI, enrolled with social security and provided medical leave and weekly holidays. Fourth, no sanitation worker will ever be required to enter a sewage gutter and mechanical means will be used instead to replace the task of manual scavenging.

Justice for Sanitation Workers is a platform to enable conscientious citizens to raise their voice and fight against discrimination, exploitation and violation of human rights of sanitation workers. It is also a platform to demand complete eradication of manual scavenging of sewer gutters. There are numerous possible ways in which citizens can come forward to support this cause. One recommended method is to regularly take some time out to meet the local sanitary workers and inquire about their wages, working hours and the departments they work for. It is also useful to find out if they are registered with EOBI and Social Security, if they possess an appointment letter, if they receive a weekly holiday and most importantly if they are required to enter the sewer gutters instead of using mechanical means.

On discovering that a sanitary worker is being deprived of any of his/her rights, it is imperative for every conscientious citizen to break the silence and write or speak to the head of the concerned organisation to undo the injustice. Citizens could also expose such delinquent organisations by writing letters and articles in the press. Use of ‘Right to Information’ law is yet another option to obtain correct information. Wherever possible, citizens should engage with the government, lawmakers and judiciary to challenge the injustices inflicted upon sanitation workers. A people’s movement is our only option to address and alleviate the lives of Pakistan’s criminally exploited sanitation workers.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2022.

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