What Gifts The Metro Bus Project Has Given To The Laborers Working On It?

Sure enough, the Metro Bus Project, a project that PMLN really takes pride in, was meant to make the lives of the people living in Lahore easier as first phase of the project. The project is now under progress in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. While the big companies and their engineers get to live in metal cabins with air conditioning and other amazing facilities, the poor laborers are left to fight with threatening health conditions in huts and sheds.

It is not a surprise to see the Pakistan laborer living in such perilous conditions but you could at least expect a little better behavior with the laborers of one of the biggest projects in Pakistan. It’s a pity that these laborers are living in even worse conditions than they would if they were working on a private and small project.

These laborers working on Metro Bus Project in Islamabad and Rawalpindi has seen all the different faces of problems. They have worked under scorching heat of May and June, they have slept in humid and damp conditions inside the huts during August rains and they are letting the noise coming from the nearby traffic torture their ears as they work for 12 and more hours every day.

A steel fixer working with the laborers, named Ashar David Mahi, put some light on the conditions the laborers of the project are living in. He said it had happened to him multiple times that he woke up in the middle of the night because the water from the rain was entering the camp. He said the basic necessities were missing from their temporary residences as they worked on the project. He said he wouldn’t want to live in such conditions but has to because he has to feed a family.

Mahi also said they the laborers did not have sufficient supply of clean water in their huts and could not receive first aid in case of accidents or emergencies. He talks about an incident that happened wherein he received an injury on his foot when he was fixing steel. He said that he did not receive any first aid instead he was taken to the nearest hospital for treatment, Benazir Bhutto Hospital. As it turns out, he had to pay the expenses for receiving the treatment from his pocket.

Another laborer, Ali Sher, talked about the poor conditions of the laborers and said that they are compelled to use the commercial toilets and washrooms since the ones set up for them are located far away and are often short on water supply.

Various laborers talked about the conditions they were living in and said they were only coping with these conditions because they are the breadwinners of their families.

Another challenge for the laborers has just arrived in the form of protests against the government by PTI and PAT. The laborers said the construction work is at a halt and due to this they are not receiving their daily wages and its affecting the lives of their families.