ISLAMABAD: Sanitation workers who have not been paid for three months threw garbage on the roads of the city and held a sit-in outside the National Press Club (NPC) on Saturday.

With just a few days left to Christmas, the predominantly Christian workers also have little hope that they will be paid their dues in time for their religious holiday.

Pervaiz Masih, a sanitation worker, told Dawn: “The prime minister should take notice of the issue and ensure the release of salaries to sanitary workers so they are able to celebrate Christmas.”

The workers appear to be casualties of an ongoing dispute between the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), both of which say the other is responsible for paying them.

According to Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz, the collection of garbage has been stopped because the CDA has not released Rs70 million needed to pay staff. However, a senior CDA officer has argued that the authority has cleared the dues of sanitation staff many times and it is now the MCI’s responsibility.

Days before Christmas, the predominantly Christian staff have little hope of being paid in time

Caught in the midst of this tussle, sanitation worker and mother of three Maria Masih told Dawn that it has become impossible to survive without being paid.

“We were living in a rented room in Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Rawalpindi. However, because I was not paid my salary, I was forced to vacate the room and moved to my mother’s house in I-9,” she said.

The unpaid sanitation workers have stopped collecting garbage in the G and I sectors, other than in I-9 where permanent staff are still doing so. The situation has led to deterioration in the environment of these areas, as well as concerns that diseases could spread in the city.

A CDA official who asked not to be named said that the sanitation department was handed over to the MCI, but the corporation is not paying sanitation workers.

“The MCI used to pay the dues of contractors who collect garbage from different parts of the city, but it has stopped clearing the dues during the current government’s tenure. It is just because the mayor is close to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and wants to defame the PTI government,” the official claimed.

According to a document available with Dawn, the MCI paid more than Rs136 million to contractors in the 2018-19 financial year.

“As the MCI stopped releasing funds, we have cleared the payment of contractors many times. Even on Friday, we released Rs30m to the MCI to mitigate the problems facing residents, but the MCI transferred the funds to some large contractors rather than ensuring that the salaries of sanitary workers would be cleared,” the CDA official said.

He said the MCI should either address the issues of the sanitation department or hand it over to the CDA.

“The MCI has around Rs2 billion in its accounts, but it is not using the money to pay the salaries of sanitary workers,” he said.

The MCI has Rs1.25bn in its accounts, Mayor Aziz told Dawn, but cannot use these funds unless its rules and regulations are approved.

The payments from the 2018-19 period were made at a time when the mayor was also heading the CDA, which meant that such transactions could be carried out even though the MCI’s rules had not been addressed.

“The PTI government has kept all the lucrative departments with the CDA and departments that had become liabilities were handed over to the MCI. Now the PTI has realised that public services can only be ensured through the sanitation department, so hurdles are being created in my way,” Mayor Aziz alleged.

To a question, he responded that around Rs70m are needed to clear the dues of sanitation workers, as they have not been paid for more than three months.

Smart streetlights to be installed in I-14

The CDA has approved Rs17m for the installation of ‘smart’ LED streetlights in I-14.

According to a statement, these lights will conserve energy while providing better lighting. The provision of streetlights in I-14 has been a longstanding demand of the sector’s residents, but the provision of basic amenities was ignored in the development of the sector in the past, it said.

The CDA has devised a strategy to take up stalled sectors so development work can be initiated. PC-Is and PC-IIs for various stalled sectors were prepared and approved by the CDA Development Working Party in this regard.

The statement said I-14 was among the sectors where residual development work was stalled for years, but the incumbent management has approved the PC-II for development activities and completed repairs on the main access road of the sector.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2019