Unemployed: In Swat, silk industry workers forced to rely on labour, loans

Unscheduled power outages cripple industrial units, force workers out of jobs.

SWAT:

Despite the fact that more than 7,000 workers lost their jobs after the silk industry closed down due to prolonged power cuts in Swat, the government has made no effort to schedule load shedding.

Many workers have turned towards other jobs. Rasool Khan, a silk industry worker, who now wheels cartloads of goods in Mingora bazaar, told The Express Tribune, “At first, I did not take up other work and waited expectantly for the government to rationalise load shedding but it gradually increased to 20 hours. I started taking loads for people in Mingora bazaar so that my family does not starve.” This country is not for the poor, just for the rich, he added.

Swat was once known as the hub of silk industry where workers from across the country would come to earn a livelihood for their families. There were 350 silk factories in Swat which employed more than 72,000 workers but when the Afghan transit trade came to a halt, the silk industry in Swat collapsed.

Many workers still connected with the silk industry are starving. They can do no other work and survive on loans. “I have to take loans from friends and relatives for getting food for my family, Bacha Zada, 54, a silk industry worker told The Express Tribune. “I cannot do any other labour as I’m not young and strong. Now people have refused to extend loans to me and I’m thinking what to do next.” I have only one option: to start begging  in the street, he added.



The workers and labour union representatives said rulers who raise slogans of roti, kapra and makan, have snatched all these things from us. “We are forced to beg in the streets to feed our families twice a day. These ruthless rulers do not know our misery and have multiplied our problems,” said Zahoor, a silk industry worker.

President  of United Labour Union Swat, Merajun Nabi said the number of silk factories decreased to 47 in which more than 7,000 workers were employed before power cuts paralysed the industry completely.

“The majority of workers have left the silk industry and started working as labourers. The government has killed us off financially,” he stated, adding that the government should, at least, devise a schedule for load shedding so that workers can adapt their routine.

The workers and labour union officials have warned the government they would come out on the streets and commit collective suicide if the government  failed to restore electricity supply to the silk industry in Swat.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2013.