KARACHI - Highlighting the tragic incident of
the oil tanker blast in Gadani, the labour leaders said that at least 28 people
were killed, around 60 were injured in the incident while 20 families so far
approached NTUF in search of their missing ones.
Addressing a press conference at the Karachi
Press Club (KPC) yesterday, they said it was unfortunate that government
remained tight lipped during the overall scene. They also criticised the
government decision of closuring work at the shipbreaking yard.
“This decision is tantamount to the
economical murder of the 12,000 workers directly associated with the industry.
These workers earned wages daily and in this scenario they and their families
have been forced to sleep with an empty stomach. Those more than two million
people indirectly related to the industry have also been badly affected,” they
held.
The labourers pointed out that embargo on
dismantling a decommissioned ship is an attack on the industries in Pakistan,
especially in Baluchistan, as more than 100 re-rolling mills in Karachi and Hub
were dependent on the iron scrap from Gadani. The shipbreaking yard caters
30percent of country’s iron and steel needs. The closure of this resource will
only benefit the steel importers and it will force negative impacts on the
economy, they added.
Labour leaders further said some forces were
trying to present the oil tanker blast incident as a terror activity to shift
the world’s eye away from lack of, or zero, health and safety facilities to
labourers and violation of country’s and international labour laws and
conventions.
“It is regrettable that about one week has
passed and no compensation has been announced for the victim families while the
injured were also not provided any aid that has resulted into more casualties,”
they further claimed.
On this occasion, they demanded the federal
and Balochistan governments to take back decision of closing the work at shipbreaking
yard and announce compensation amount for the families of deceased and injured.
“If our demands were not meet the labour
organisations would stage protest on November 14 at the main RCD highway going
towards Quetta,” they warned.
Source:
the nation. 10 November 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment