GARDENERS employed by municipalities generally work from 8am to 4pm on five days, i.e. 40 hours per week. At least this is so in Islamabad. They are supposedly allowed 1-2pm off for lunch and prayers. After having closely observed for a good 34 years the gardeners employed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and talking to them and their supervisors, I understand that during the five days they are paid to work currently, they hardly put in four hours of solid work; perhaps less during these hot summer months. They invariably do not return to work after the mid-day break, and if they do, they just laze around until it is time to go home.

During the five months of summer, say, from the start of May to the end of September, the duty-time ought to be 5am-1pm, at the end of which they should go home. Timings must also be weather-dependent for the other seven months. Working during the friendlier hours of the day can only improve efficiency and encourage greater application to work. This also eliminates the one-hour break.

It is worth underlining that parks as well as greenery within them require attention seven days a week, and, hence, the current five-day week for their caregivers makes no sense. Further, most park visitors come on weekends when cleanliness and good upkeep are needed, which the gardeners should provide.

The above considerations require that the schedule of work and working hours of gardeners be adjusted — while retaining the 40 hour/week quota for each gardener — to ensure that coverage is adequately provided to plants and visitors across the week. There is an urgent need for training the gardeners. The same applies to their supervisors who largely lack basic management skills.

I have, for example, not seen any of them carry a notebook or e-record of the work assigned to each gardener and his performance on each day or on a long-term basis. Good workers need to be rewarded and those who shirk should be hauled up. For this, record-keeping is essential. Such simple changes would improve the working conditions of gardeners and also make visits to public parks more pleasant for all.

Q. Isa Daudpota
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2024