Brick-kiln workers still being subjected to worst exploitation

[Naveed Yaseen]

Noor Aftab
Brick kilns workers are still being subjected to worst kind of exploitation as they lack all basic facilities of life due to indifferent behaviour of both owners and concerned government departments, said Dr. Saba Gul Khattak.

She presented her research report on ‘Social Analysis of Brick Kilns Production Units in Pakistan’ during a panel discussion organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Monday.

Dr. Saba Gul Khattak said there are largely three categories of brick kilns workers including moulders, carriages and firemen who are working between 10 and 13 hours a day. Providing the break up, she said ‘the poorest of the poor’ category shows 77.8% are moulders, 57.9% carriages and 41.7% firemen; ‘the poor’ category contains 8.9% moulders, 15.8% carriages and 16.7% poor; ‘average category’ includes 8.9% moulders, 5.3% carriages and 12.5% firemen; while ‘well off’ category’ constitutes 4.4% moulders, 21.1% carriages and 28.9% firemen.

She further said 97% of brick kilns workers are living in mud houses; 80% have no running water facility in their houses; 60% have no latrine facility and 82% have no drainage system in their living places.

Dr Saba said only 4% of the women working in brick kilns have CNICs and none of them has ever been registered as a voter in any area of Pakistan. “As most of the women don’t have CNICs, the policemen often tease them and even make them subject to torture and other inhuman treatment,” she said.

About contract system, she said 23% of workers do not have any kind of written or verbal understanding with owners while 57% are working under verbal contract, which has no legal validity.

Talking about the perception of workers regarding mechanization in the brick kilns, she said 60% of workers are entirely against it, 65% believe that it would result in unemployment while 99% think that mechanization would affect the quality of bricks.

Dr Saba said owners of brick kilns are highly willing to adopt fuel-efficient technology, as the coal is fast becoming an expensive commodity.

She suggested that the ministries of education and health should extend their financial and technical help to families working in brick kilns especially to save the future of thousands of children.

“Efforts be made for ensuring better working timings, adult literacy, vocational training, appropriate remuneration, tripartite dialogue and technology for two ways benefits in the brick kilns,” she said.

Answering a question, she said there are some 10,000 brick kilns in Pakistan and if it were supposed that 100 workers are working in each brick kiln then the number of workers would not be less than one million.

She said it is highly ironical that the banking sector provides loans to the owners of brick kilns but their workers are not provided with any kind of benefits on the pretext that they work in an informal sector.

Dr Sultan Mehmood Khan, a public health scientist, said water-borne diseases, air pollution and toxic fuels are one of the major problems associated with the brick kilns industry.

He said the brick kilns workers mainly face diseases like diarrhoea, tuberculosis, polio and dengue fever and lack of proper health facilities is one of their main problems.

Dr Sultan said a minimum of Rs5 million is required to set up a brick kiln but it is still regarded as an informal sector instead of an industry.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=160617