Owing to the absence of
health and safety measures at workplaces, over a dozen labourers have been
killed in separate industrial incidents reported in Karachi and parts of Balochistan
in September alone.
This was observed by
National Trade Union Federation’s deputy secretary general, Nasir Mansoor, on
Tuesday at a presser held to express concern over a series of accidents
reported in the city in just one week.
There has been an increase
in casualties since the employers and the authorities have turned a blind eye
towards implementation of labour laws, he said. “They are not concerned with
providing safety to workers despite witnessing two of the deadliest disasters
to have occurred in the country - the Baldia factory fire and the Gadani oil
tanker tragedy,” Mansoor added.
He observed that eight
miners were killed in three incidents reported in Quetta and Harnai in
Balochistan in the first week of September. Followed by this incident, a
watchman was burnt to death as a cosmetics factory located in Karachi’s PECHS
area caught fire on September 20, while on the same day five more labourers
were injured in a similar incident reported in Patel Para.
Two days later, three more workers
died after falling into an underground chemical tank of a fish processing unit
in Ibrahim Hyderi, while on the 24th of this month, a 14-storey building as
well as a cardboard factory caught fire in Boat Basin and Shafiq Morr areas
respectively.
“We had been highlighting
the issue of lack of safety and health measures at workplaces since a long time
and more intensely after the Baldia factory fire that claimed lives of over 260
workers. But the government pays no need. Our factories have become gas chambers
where workers risk their lives day in and day out to earn a livelihood,” the
labour rights’ activist stated.
The criminal negligence of
the authorities and employers has many a times proved dangerous as on November
1, last year, 26 workers died while several others were wounded in an oil
tanker explosion in the Gadani ship-breaking yard, said Mansoor.
He said the decommissioned
tanker was being dismantled without the required equipment supposed to ensure
workers’ safety. “We hold the government,
employers and authorities responsible for these killings and injuries, as it is
them who have formed a criminal nexus to protect and continue with their
wrongdoings while workers continue to suffer.
We believe that if adequate
safety measures were taken and laws implemented, these casualties could have
been avoided. Moreover, the government-run rescue service i.e. the fire
department, is not competent enough to deal with such incidents,” Mansoor
further observed.
He criticised public
representatives for whom labourers’ plight was the least of their concerns.
They only make verbal, and that also false, pledges to better the situation. A
draft of health and safety bill is pending before the provincial cabinet for approval
for over a year now but has still not been tabled in the assembly.
The NTUF demand that those
killed in these incidents are immediately paid Rs3 million and those injured
Rs1.5 million as compensation; government ensures implementation of labour laws
and compliance of health and safety measures by owners of all workplaces.
The organisation also called
for training workers on how to react when such an incident occurs, whereas
private social auditing system is abolished and labour inspection are carried
out. The labour organisation also called for the fire department to be provided
with resources.
NTUF Sindh President Gul
Rahman, Ali Enterprises Fire Affectees Association’s chairperson, Saeeda
Khatoon, Home Based Women Workers Federation general secretary, Zehra Khan,
Ship-breaking Workers Union Gadani President, Bashir Ahmed Mahmodani, Sindh
Agriculture General Workers Union information secretary Mushtaq Ali Shan, Abdul
Aziz and others were also present at the press conference.
Source:
the
news. 27 September 2017
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