‘New legislation required for female brick kiln workers’

Islamabad : There is a need to enact new laws for the protection and safety of the women workers at brick kilns industry, said Ayub Malik, a human rights activist.

Talking to this agency, he said there should be a regulatory body to resolve the issues of these female workers whereas a limited number of these workers had written contract and the rest have a verbal understanding for their work.

The Parliamentary Sectary for Labour and Human Resources had told the Punjab Assembly in 2017 that the under the Punjab prohibition on employment of children at brick kiln Act 2016 , inspectors had carried out 10,417 inspection and had FIR registered against 897 brick kiln owners. Remuneration is fixed on the basis of the number of bricks made or carried.

On average, workers have to work for 11-13 hours so that they file petition on the rights of brick kiln workers in this regard, he lamented. The working conditions, he said, are no better than the workers? own living conditions. A majority of the workers at the brick kilns were working even below poverty line while most of them have been sent by their families, he added.

He said due to improper taxing nature, the financial advances and loans taken by the workers bind them to work.

At least 20 thousand workers are being associated with brick kilns work and most of them were women and children facing exploitation which stirs the need for proper implementation of existing laws towards the most neglected sector, adding these workers were largely deprived of their legal rights and entitlements and forced to work in unhealthy and unsafe environments, he maintained.