In the furnace

Rising inflation has been made it increasingly difficult for members of all classes to meet their expenses. The poor can barely afford two meals a day. Among them too, the cruelty extended to thousands of underpaid sanitary workers is most profound. Even though the issue has been raised time and again, the plight of sanitary workers remains unaddressed.

In the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) alone, there are 1700 sanitary workers working for the last 10 to 20 years on contract. They are paid a salary of merely Rs14,000 per month, even though the Sindh government recently announced the minimum wage of Rs25,000. Then there are over 100 sanitary workers at Hyderabad’s Water and Sewage Agency (Wasa) who receive a paltry sum of Rs10,000. Both HMC and Wasa workers are registered neither with the Employees' Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) nor with the Sindh Employees' Social Security Institution. The authorities concerned should work to put an immediate end to this illegal and inhumane treatment.

Naeem Sadiq

Karachi