SIALKOT: Working women from remote areas of the district who have to undergo the daily grind of shuttling between their homes and workplace in the city badly need a hostel so that they could avoid hassle of covering long distances, besides saving money they spend on their arduous commutes.

Hundreds of women belonging to far-off urban and rural areas of the district daily visit the city to work in local factories, banks, government and private educational and health institutions etc, but they have to return to their native towns and villages after duty hours.

Many of these working women say that if given a choice they would prefer to stay in the city that would save them daily hassle of traveling to their workplace and returning back home by overcrowded public transport.

Such an option, they say, would also save them travel expenses that take away a considerable chunk of their already meager incomes.

Talking to Dawn, a group of working women, including Hina Shehzadi, Irum Nasir, Kashifa Hassan, Munaza Khan, Iqra Bashir, Uzma Nasir, Bushra Parveen, Fouzia Mughal, Mehmooda, Arfan Kanwal, Sameena Nisar and Noureen Gillani said none of the factories in the city offered hostel facility for the women employees who had to daily shuttle between their workplace and homes.

They said though portions of houses in localities like Muhammadpura, Pakpura, Puran Nagar, Nishat Park and Prem Nagar were available on rent but the owners demand hefty amounts as advance payment with exorbitant rent which most of them could not afford to pay.

Besides, they said, most of such accommodations lacked proper security, especially for women. So, they said, they had to either travel daily to their workplace or go for low-rent options which lacked the basic facilities and proper security.

Some of the women recalled that Provincial Minister for Women Development Hameeda Waheeduddin, during her visit to the city a couple of years ago, had announced that a hostel for working women would be established in Sialkot, but nothing had so far been done in this regard.

Kalsoom Bibi, a worker belonging to a far-off Bajwat border village, said that she had to travel more than 72 kilometres daily to reach her workplace here. During her daily commute, she has to cross three rivers — Chenab, Tavi and Jammu — to reach Sialkot. She said provision of hostel facility could help her a lot.

A Chawinda-Pasrur based worker, Rukhsana Bibi said, “I reach here (Sialkot) after traveling more than 40Kms daily, saying that the journey not only takes time but also costs her dearly.”

Similarly, Shakeela Bibi of Kamonki and Khadeeja Bibi of Gujrat have to cover long distances daily to reach their respective workplaces in Sialkot.

They added that though several factories in the city provided transportation facility to their male and female workers, but their managements never thought about providing hostel facility, especially to the female workers belonging to remote areas.

They urged Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to order early establishment of a hostel for the working women in Sialkot, so that they and other workers could be relieved of the problems they had to face daily.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2017