• Survey finds several underage labourers collecting garbage in city
• Sanitation worker says he gets Rs15,000 a month from contractor
• SSWMB insists mechanism in place to ensure age limit, minimum wage payment

KARACHI: Already under fire for its failure in keeping the city clean, the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) finds itself in another controversy as many of its workers recruited to do its job are still not being paid the minimum wage set by the provincial government, while a large number of them are “children as young as 10 and 12 years old”.

A recent survey carried out by Dawn in different city areas has led to the conclusion that there’s no standard pay of hundreds of workers tasked with garbage collections across the city and in none of the seven districts of the metropolis the minimum wage rule is being implemented.

On one recent morning, Dawn finds dozens of sanitation workers lined up under the Allama Shabbir Ahmad Usmani Flyover across Rashid Minhas Road in district East by their contractor for regular attendance.

A large number of the workers, who were beginning their day to start the work of garbage collection from different blocks of Gulshan-i-Iqbal and adjoining areas, weren’t even 14.

One of them, whom Dawn talked to, was a 12-year-old boy collecting garbage for a Chinese contractor of the SSWMB for two months.

Almost the similar scenes were witnessed near the Sakhi Hasan roundabout in North Nazimabad in district Central where the situation was no different.

In 2017, the Sindh Assembly had unanimously passed a bill against employment of children below the age of 14, making child labour an offence punishable with prison term and fine.

The violation of age is not the only one anomaly witnessed every day as the majority of the workers, executing core operation of the SSWMB, aren’t even paid the minimum wage — Rs32,000 per month — which is fixed by the Sindh government.

“We get a maximum of Rs500 a day which makes Rs15,000 a month if we work throughout the month without any leave or break,” said a sanitation worker in the district Central.

A spokesperson for the SSWMB, however, insists that a mechanism exists in the organisation that doesn’t allow the garbage collection from workers under 18 years of age and ensures implementation of the minimum wage to workers.

However, the workers on the ground say that the violation of rules are going on for a long time and things have only been highlighted recently when the newly elected local government came to power a few months ago.

“Since I assumed the charge, residents from various union committees have reached to me with distressing reports of children as young as 10 and 12, and even younger, actively participating in garbage collection along personnel from the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board,” said Atif Ali Khan, chairman of the North Nazimabad Town Municipal Corporation.

“Moreover, consistent reports from our UC chairmen show a persistent shortage of staff within the board, leading to frequent neglect of work throughout the day. Shockingly, upon questioning, it has been disclosed that the workforce is compensated with only a fraction of the minimum wage which is less than Rs500. This raises serious ethical and legal questions over the practices of the board,” he added.

Responding to a question, the SSWMB spokesperson said that the board had established a strong database which requires entry of each and every worker whether they are associated with any contractor.

The spokesperson claimed that the organisation doesn’t allow garbage collection from workers under 18, and that’s why they are registered through their CNIC number.

“Actually the SSWMB has outsourced the job to Chinese companies and in different districts these companies have further outsourced their operations to contractors,” she said. “So these workers are directly not employed with the SSWMB. But obviously we have set certain terms to engage any contractor or company with us.”

“We have mechanisms in place at district and town levels to ensure payment of minimum wage and keep a check on restrictions on minimum age of workers,” the spokesperson claimed.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2023