Workers’ rights: Labour flats yet to receive occupants they were built for

After the flood survivors vacated the flats, land grabbers took over.

KARACHI: The Sindh labour department has yet to wrench the labour apartments free from the land grabbers and hand them over to the occupants they were built for.

The workers were allotted these flats in February last year but they are still under the illegal control of land grabbers. Over 4,000 residential units at Gulshan-e-Maymar and Northern Bypass were allotted to workers through a ballot by the Sindh Workers’ Welfare Board (SWWB) in February 2012.

All the private companies that are registered give funds to the welfare board, which in turn is utilised for the welfare of the workers of these companies. An employee can approach the board to get money for a daughter’s wedding, medical emergencies, pension, etc.



These workers submitted their applications for the allotment of 4,008 flats in 2007 but the balloting was conducted five years later. The successful applicants then submitted money for their flats but they have yet to receive possession.

“I paid Rs30,000 more than a year ago to the welfare board but I am still waiting for the labour department to evacuate the flats from the grabbers,” said Riaz Abbasi, a worker at a private company who has been allotted a flat in Gulshan-i-Maymar. “These land grabber do not even allow us to enter the area.”

Initially, the government placed the flood-affected people in our flats but those internally displaced persons left, said Abbasi. “Soon after, some people with political connections took over the apartments.” Even the government fails to give a satisfactory response every time the workers raise this issue, he added.

According to the National Trade Union Federation, the workers have paid a total of Rs120 million to the government. “We have planned to launch a campaign to reclaim those apartments for the workers and we will protest outside the Sindh Assembly,” said the union’s Nasir Mansoor. The Sindh chief minister issued an order to evacuate the flats after the workers protested earlier but the officials failed to take any action, he added.

The workers were allotted nearly 3,000 flats near Northern Bypass and 1,008 in Gulshan-e-Maymar, pointed out Mansoor, adding that the land grabbers have been living in them for the past two years without paying gas and electricity bills.

Meanwhile, Sindh labour secretary Wasim Ahmed Ursani told The Express Tribune that the flats were given to the flood survivors but then some people took over the flats. The labour department is now devising a plan to evacuate these flats from the illegal occupants.

“We will first try to evacuate them through dialogue but we may use force if needed,” he said, adding that they will seek help from the police and Rangers. “We are trying to do this job as soon as possible.” The first priority is to evacuate the flats, he said, adding that repairs and bills payments will be considered later. “Right now they [the land grabbers] are attacking people in our department and not even letting us enter the area.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2013.