Islamabad : The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration has started to carry out survey of all brick kilns, operating in its jurisdiction aimed at compiling data of workers and ending the bonded & child labor in this sector.
The capital administration launched the survey after the Islamabad High Court ordered formation of a commission few days back to inquire and recommend measures to protect the rights of labour employed in brick kilns of the city.
The court had directed the commission, headed by Deputy Commissioner Islamabad, to submit a review report on brick kilns before it within a period of one month.
“The Assistant Commissioners will carry out a survey of all the brick kilns along with geo-tagging as per the Terms of References (TORs) of the commission,” ICT Director Labour Sanya Pasha told APP Monday.
Explaining the mechanism for data collection, she said a ‘pilot data form’ had been prepared to collect the required information from brick kilns owners and laborers working there.
The commission, Sanya said, would consult representatives of all stakeholders including international labor organization, non-governmental organizations working to eradicate bonded/child labour, brick kiln organization and environmental protection agency to prepare a comprehensive and actionable report.
“The final draft will be prepared by January 25 for onward submission to the court on February 2,” she added.
When contacted, the Deputy Commissioner who was heading the commission informed that the ICT administration teams were gathering details of brick kilns in Islamabad to audit them.
Out of the total 80 brick kilns established in the federal capital, he said the audit of 14 had been completed while rest of it would be completed soon.
He said efforts were afoot to create awareness on bonded/child labour among the employers and labourers to curb the practice.
To a query, he claimed so far not a single complain against bonded labour was lodged with the local administration during the last two years.
He, however, admitted that there were some lacunae in the system that needed to be reviewed for the enforcement of contemporary laws in true letter and spirit.
The district magistrate has the authority to trial the suspect under the bonded labour Act 1992 and minimum Rs50,000 penalty could be awarded, besides further punishment, the DC remarked while responding to another query.
An official source, requesting anonymity, said bonded labour had been outlawed in Pakistan as well as in other countries under the UN conventions on human rights.
"More than four million people, including women and children, are currently working in almost 20,000 brick kilns across Pakistan to pay off family loans taken from the kiln owners," he noted.
Recently, the Punjab government has ordered shutdown of brick kilns in province due to pollution causing smog in Punjab in the winter.
The smoke, produced by automobiles, brick kilns and stubble burning in agriculture areas, causes smog in winter.
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