Children as cleaners
It is illegal to employ children below the age of 14. Second, they are not being paid even the minimum wage
May 25, 2021
In Karachi, thousands of boys and girls, aged between 12 and 15 years, are engaged in sweeping the streets and roads of the city at a monthly salary of Rs12, 000, which is much below the current minimum wage of Rs17,000. These hapless children are not directly working under the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board though, they have been put to work by contractors to whom the government organisation has sublet the work of cleaning the city. This is doubly cruel. First, under the relevant law, it is illegal to employ children below the age of 14. Second, they are not being paid even the minimum wage.
Minors wade through city’s garbage on SSWMB payroll
Government reminded of Sindh child protection law, minimum wage
KARACHI:
The Sindh Child Protection Authority may have been established in 2011, but provincial government bodies are still employing minors as janitors and garbage pickers to sweep the streets and lift solid waste in the city.
This is claimed by social activists, who have written to the Sindh chief minister, provincial minister for human rights, local government minister, the National Commission on Status of Children chairperson and the Sindh Child Protection Authority. The letter, penned by Helpline Trust, pointed out that minors are being cruelly exploited by local contractors working under the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB).
The Sindh Solid Waste Management Board has invited international tenders for Korangi and Central districts on Thursday. The board is already functional in other districts of Karachi.According to a.
The Sindh government has constituted a committee on efficient and timely cleaning of Karachi stormwater drains before the monsoon season. The committee was formed on May 16 but the cleaning of drains has yet to start. The provincial cabinet earlier decided to start the cleaning work from May 20. The seven-member committee includes the KMC municipal commissioner, Sindh Solid Waste Management Board managing director, KMC Municipal Services senior director, KMC Nullahs chief engineer, KMC Machine Pool Depot director, Public Private Partnership technical advisor (CLICK Project), Sindh Local Government department and any officer co-opted by the committee. The committee has been taske.
The writer is an urban planner and CEO, Urban Collaborative.
IN 1978, Nanjido, a low-lying island located on the Han River in Seoul, was chosen as the city’s official landfill site and a once beautiful island was turned into a dump yard. However in 1991, a major landfill recovery project was initiated. Within five years, the island’s ecosystem was restored and the site transformed into a world-class ecological park. Since garbage was still present sub-surface, methane, a potent greenhouse gas, posed a threat. The city of Seoul installed 106 methane gas extraction wells. The gas channelled into wells using fans now provides heat to several surrounding offices and households. This did not happen in a policy vacuum. It was part of Seoul’s overarching vision to become a zero waste city that it now is, where solid waste is not ‘disposed of’, rather it becomes part of a ‘circular economy’ where nothing goes to waste.