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hree sanitation workers lost their lives on September 19. They were trying to connect a sewer line near Pasban Technical Training Institute on Satyana Road.
“It was already past midnight when my brother Zulfiqar and two of his fellow workers were pressured by Pasban Group chairman Shahnawaz-ul-Hassan and his munshi, to climb down a manhole and fix a sewer line,” Nadeem Abbas tells The News on Sunday.
“They pleaded with them to wait till the morning so they could seek WASA’s permission and secure safety gear, but the business owner and his aide were adamant that they do the job right away. The three men were thus forced to descend to their deaths,” says Abbas.
“Within moments, they passed out from toxic gas poisoning.”Abbas says. As soon as he heard about the accident, he says, he rushed to the site. By then it was too late. “My brother and two other workers had already died.”
According to an FIR registered under Section 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code against Pasban Group chairman Shahnawaz-ul-Hassan and his munshi Liaqat Ali at Saddar Police Station, three sewer workers namely Zulfiqar, Naeem Abbas and Muhammad Ansar lost their lives while attempting to illegally connect a sewer line. The FIR states that Liaqat Ali had struck a deal with the workers, offering them Rs 100, 000 for the job and paying Rs 15,000 in advance.
“A complaint has been lodged, but the police have neither arrested the nominated suspects nor taken any concrete action against them,” Nadeem Abbas says. He also says that in spite of his repeated requests, the police had not included the charges of criminal negligence, endangerment of human life and forcing workers into dangerous and unlawful tasks.
Under Section 322 of the PPC, the maximum punishment is payment of diyat (blood money) to the heirs of the deceased. The FIR says that the workers were forced to descend into the sewer late at night, without protective gear and died of toxic gas inhalation.
A WASA Faisalabad spokesperson says that the Pasban Group had not obtained permission for a sewer connection. Instead it had sought to tunnel its way beneath the road under the cover of darkness to discharge its waste into the WASA drain.
WASA Faisalabad’s managing director, Suhail Qadir Cheema, says an FIR has been filed against the Pasban Group.
“WASA Faisalabad uses gas detectors, safety masks and oxygen cylinders in such situations. Also, the staff get safety training. WASA has also procured mechanical desilting machines for cleaning main sewer lines,” he says.
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This is not the first such incident in Faisalabad. At least 14 people died last year while working in sewers and manholes without safety equipment.
The deadliest of these accidents occurred on June 13, 2024, in Dijkot, where five sanitation workers suffocated to death. In July, two sanitation workers Shakeel Masih and Sohail Masih lost their lives while cleaning a manhole in a private housing colony in Chak Jhumra. Another sewer worker died of toxic gas inhalation near Allied Hospital. Earlier on March 17, 2024, Asif Masih and Shan Masih had died of suffocation while cleaning sewer lines at a wedding hall on Sargodha Road.
Most recently, on September 22, 2025, a sanitation worker, Zeeshan Masih, wound up in critical condition after inhaling toxic gases during a desilting operation in Muradabad, Ghulam Muhammad Abad. Following this incident, the Jamhoori Workers Union, representing WASA Faisalabad employees, wrote a letter to the managing director demanding provision of proper safety gear for frontline staff.
Although WASA’s deputy managing director (Services) issued written instructions to ensure supply of protective equipment, field workers report that these directives remain largely unimplemented.
The Punjab Local Government and Community Development Department has a mandatory list of 17 safety items for sewer workers. These include compressed air-line systems, portable air compressors, fresh air respirators, air fans, rescue harnesses, safety belts, multi-gas detectors, tripods, winches, headlamps, air blowers, floodlights, portable generators, dry suits, safety shoes, helmets, long boots, gloves and torches.
A request under the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013 was submitted to WASA Faisalabad in April 2025, seeking certified data on the availability of safety equipment, the number of workers who died or got injured on duty and the inquiries conducted to investigate such accidents and hold those responsible accountable. However, the department failed to provide the information. An appeal remains pending with the Punjab Information Commission.
Mian Muhammad Maqsood, president of the Jamhoori Workers’ Union, tells TNS that sewer workers are most in need of gas masks and oxygen cylinders.
“What they give us, in the name of gas masks, is a basic mask attached to a 20-foot pipe. Instead of helping, it makes matters worse. The moment we descend into a manhole wearing this clunky contraption, we begin to suffocate partly because of it. Besides, a basic mask offers scant protection against the lethal cocktail of sewer gases,” says Maqsood.
He says he has repeatedly urged WASA officials to provide oxygen cylinders and arrange rescue training for all sewer divers. “In principle, no worker should be forced to enter a manhole. It is hazardous work. If it must be done, then proper training and safety measures should be guaranteed.”
Maqsood says unsafe working conditions expose sanitation workers to toxic gases, respiratory illnesses, skin diseases, injuries from broken glass and sharp objects and bites from poisonous insects. “Our families’ health is at risk because of our line of work but they do not get vaccinations, free medical check-ups or healthcare facilities,” he says.
“When there is a death, we have to run from office to office to secure compensation for the deceased.”
Under the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1923, employers are bound to compensate any worker injured or killed on duty. Section 12 of the Act makes compensation mandatory even for temporary or contract workers.
However, WASA-Faisalabad only compensates its permanent employees. The work-charge staff is covered under ad hoc provincial government grants. In private sector cases, officials often pressure bereaved families into accepting settlements that fall short of the full diyat (Rs 9.83 million after the latest revision).
The WASA managing director insists that his sanitary workers are “regularly trained in safety protocols and the use of protective gear.” Maqsood disputes this. “At the time of recruitment, and later, no worker receives proper training. The only ‘test’ is for willingness to climb into a manhole. Nothing else matters. They literally lower one into a sewer before declaring one fit for the job,” he says.
The union leader says that the working conditions are worse in remote tehsils than in Faisalabad city. “In some towns, the only safety gear is a rope. The worker ties it around his waist before climbing down. In case of an emergency; the people above try to pull him out. This does not always work.”
According to the Citizens Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CCEHR), nearly 100 sanitation workers in Pakistan die every year while cleaning clogged sewers without proper safety measures.
CCEHR member Naeem Sadiq says that the parliament should pass a law making unauthorised entry into manholes illegal.
He says that in most cases, imported vehicles meant for sewer cleaning remain idle, while workers are into hazardous work.
“Private sewer cleaning should not be allowed. Most of the recent deaths occurred when workers were hired privately. Recently in Karachi, three private workers died while cleaning a sewer line. Sewerage systems are government-owned, so this responsibility must rest with the government agencies,” Sadiq says.
He says that every person engaged in this work should be a government employee, receiving fair wages and protections. “If the minimum wage is Rs 40,000, then the sewer workers should be paid Rs 80,000 to reflect the significance and risks associated with the job.”
Sadiq also says there is entrenched discrimination against sanitation workers in Pakistan. He says 98 per cent of them belong to non-Muslim communities.
The writer has been associated withjournalism for the past decade. He tweetsnaeemahmad876