After anger hits the threshold

It is alarming to note that govt regularly waits for groups to hit streets before administering their rights to them.

It is indeed alarming to note that the government regularly waits for groups to hit the streets before administering their rights to them. A recent protest, accompanied by almost two-day long sit-ins, of lady health workers in Lahore, just outside Punjab Assembly, is a befitting example. The workers got what they couldn’t get in years simply after launching a protest that continued over 32 hours: the provincial government agreed to table a bill in the Punjab Assembly to facilitate a service structure. Workers from across the Punjab had come to protest a hindering service structure and the non-payment of salaries for years at a stretch.

Adviser to the chief minister on health, Khawaja Salman Rafique, negotiated with the protesting workers on behalf of the government and promised to push forth the said bill before April 30 in the provincial assembly. The workers, after promises of cooperation from the government, called their protest off. The government also released Rs350 million as bridge financing for workers salaries.

As per government records, there are around 48,000 workers in Punjab who provide preventive, curative and rehabilitative services to their communities. They also educate the communities about family planning methods. They draw Rs8,000 a month as salary and have a very important role in the primary health care services.

Now, the question is, if the government could, with such convenience, push forth a piece of legislation to regularise health services, why did it wait till public anger hit the threshold? The funds which were released for financing the workers’ salaries could have been released before the scores of women took to the streets, blocked Lahore’s key traffic artery for days, causing inconvenience to thousands of commuters. Indeed, one can always argue that the speedy promises of necessary legislation and the release of funds proves that government is at least receptive to ‘protestors’; but one should also consider this: what message gets across when the government employees have to protest to get even their own salaries? The message is certainly not a positive one.

This attitude of not giving people their rights, till they take the law in their hands needs to be changed at the government level. By setting such precedents, all the government creates is violence, disarray and inconvenience. Issues should be resolved peacefully, across tables of meeting rooms, before the public throws a tantrum on the road.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2014.