HYDERABAD: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has launched a policy paper for occupational safety of sanitation workers in Sindh and said that Pakistan’s National Sanitation Policy has now become outdated while provincial legislations are in need of drastic modifications.

The paper was launched at local press club on Wednesday by HRCP chairperson Asad Iqbal Butt, vice chairman for Sindh Qazi Khizer, HRCP council members Sohail Sangi and Saleem Jarwar.

The HRCP head regretted deaths of three sanitation workers in Tando Mohammad Khan a day before and said that the sanitation workers faced social discrimination and members of general public kept a safe distance from them.

He said that they did not get permanent jobs as they were contractual employees. They were not covered under EOBI and social security regulations and did not get minimum wages, he said.

He said that these workers were not provided required safety kit and equipment before they climbed down severs and manholes. They did not have a device to determine ratio of poisonous gases so that they could take precautions, hence they become physically disabled for life in many cases and several others lost jobs while cleaning the sewers, he said.

Qazi Khizer said that sanitation policies introduced in 2015 by Sindh government were incomplete. The federal government had also introduced policy in 2006 which too was inadequate, the Punjab government only drafted a policy in 2015 but did not give it effect, he said.

Now, he said, the HRCP had introduced the policy which, if implemented by provinces and federal government, would benefit sanitation sector.

He said that permanent jobs should be provided to sanitation workers. Even if they were hired under third party employment their services should be regularized and they should be given minimum wages coupled with increments and promotions, he said.

He said that all deceased workers should be given compensation by concerned agency or department and injured should also get monetary assistance. Their pension should be ensured and they be registered with EOBI and social security protocols, he said. He said the government should ensure that these workers were not required to perform hazardous jobs and machineries should be utilized for cleaning sewers and manholes.

He said the HRCP policy called for introduction of ‘labour mohtasib’ for dealing with sanitary workers’ services issues. Eleven workers had lost their lives in three years, he said.

He said that these workers, who were paid only Rs500 to Rs700 per day wage had no job security. The Sindh government should adopt this policy paper and update its laws as well as policy, he said.

Asad Iqbal said the paper was titled Hazardous Matters: Examining the Right to Safe and Dignified Work for Sanitation Workers, drawing attention of federal and provincial governments to sanitation workers in Sindh and Punjab. The nature of sanitation work and its stigmatization in society involved inherent and systematic discrimination, he said.

He said the report showed sanitation workers were highly vulnerable to health risks, especially since most of their work was performed using outdated and manual methods. Accordingly, the report put forward a comprehensive policy framework on the premise that sanitation workers should not be excluded from the legal protections that were applicable to other categories of workers, he said.

He said that among other things, the policy proposed regularisation of employment of sanitation workers, payment of minimum wage immediately with a commitment to a living wage in short term, and provision of social security and retirement benefits.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2024