MARDAN, Nov 20: Provincial vice-president of the Bhatta Khasht Labour Union (BKLU) Haji Mohammad Inam has said that brick kilns owners have not increased the daily wages of labourers in the NWFP.

He said brick kiln owners had made a commitment with the union two months ago that the wages would be increased.

Talking to Dawn here on Monday, he said the wages of brick kiln workers had not been raised for 20 years, which he termed the worst exploitation of the labour class.

He said that some three months back the BKLU gave a call for hunger strike, however provincial Minister for Labour Zafar Azam invited the office-bearers of the union and asked both the parties to solve the issue by holding talks.

Mr Inam claimed that a meeting of the office-bearers and owners was held in the office of the minister where they (owners) promised that they would raise the wages of labourers within months, but to the day they had not done so.

He said that owners pay Rs150 to Rs160 for preparing 1,000 bricks to labourers whereas currently the price of 1,000 bricks in the market was Rs3,200.

Making 1,000 bricks was impossible for a single person, therefore, he engages his wife and children and in return get a meagre.

The union leader demanded that the minimum wage of a labour should be fixed at Rs500 for 1,000 bricks.

He deplored that there was no provision of food, medical and off-day facilities for brick kiln labour.

Mr Inam warned if their demands were not accepted then the BKLU would give a call for strike in the December against the government and the brick kiln owners’ association in the province.

RARE AMULET: A rare, jar-shaped amulet has been recovered from Gangodher’s Aziz Dheri site in Swabi district, said Dr Zainul Wahab, noted archaeologist and expert on Greek antiquities.

“The recovered piece is extremely rare in the history of archaeology of Gandhara and Greeko-Bactrian civilisation,” he said while talking to this correspondent here on Monday.

The delicate piece, having fine artistic work done on it, was supposed to be used the elite at that time, he added.

“Aziz Dheri is a strange and unique multi-layered site in Gandhara land. The coins recovered from the site belong to Budhist, Greek, Kushan and late Muslim periods,” said Dr Wahab, who has done his Ph.D thesis on the Aziz Dheri site from Athens University.

Unearthed in 1992, the excavation work on the Aziz Dheri site had been stopped for unknown reasons. Now the NWFP Directorate of Archaeology has re-started the work under the supervision of Dr Wahab.

“After the recovery of a sizeable number of ancient coins, it is hoped that more antiquities would be recovered during excavation,” he said.

He said the NWFP Directorate of Archaeology and the provincial culture secretary were taking keen interest in this rich and beautiful site “which is a treasure for the country, particularly for the NWFP”.