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In a tragic incident, two sanitation staff misplaced their lives whereas making an attempt to clear a blocked sewage line close to a residential residence in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi. The dehumanisation of sanitation staff in Pakistan is a longstanding subject ensuing within the denial of their fundamental rights and security. Regardless of the provision of contemporary equipment for cleansing sewers and gutters, guide scavenging continues to be widespread throughout the nation. In response to media stories, quite a few complaints had been made to the KWSB helpline concerning a blockage for the previous 5 days. With no response from the authorities, the residents union took the matter into their very own palms and employed non-public sweepers when sewage water started coming into their properties.
As ordinary, KWSB assumed minimal accountability, asserting {that a} criticism was lodged on Friday. They defined that because of the weekend, cleansing automobiles weren’t out there till Monday and the residents union was assured of help. Whereas this clarification could maintain some reality, it’s difficult to just accept, contemplating KWSB’s historic inadequacies in successfully addressing sanitation and sewerage points within the metropolis. Sanitation staff have again and again borne the brunt of the deficiencies of the authorities together with dealing with discrimination and harsh remedy. Nearly all of sanitation staff belong to minority teams and are persistently denied minimal wages. Because of this, they’re usually compelled to undertake further and generally harmful duties.
Safeguarding sanitation staff and their rights is never a precedence on anybody’s agenda. Their extended isolation and marginalisation have rendered them almost invisible leading to little outcry once they face fatalities. Civil rights actions have additionally did not garner the identical degree of consideration. The one method ahead is for residents to actively advocate for sanitation staff and demand justice on their behalf. We should accord these invaluable and industrious people the respect they deserve and guarantee they obtain their rightful rights.
Revealed in The Categorical Tribune, January nineteenth, 2024.
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