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| The minimum wage of a laborer is Rs 32,000: 'Sometimes I go to work without breakfast and my daughter goes to school |
"Food or medicine for me, I have to choose one of these two, if I eat, then I can't take medicine, and if I take medicine, then there is nothing left to eat, even though I work in two places."
Sadaf Khan lives in Karachi and there are four people in the house. She works in factories in the morning and evening hours, but she does not earn enough to lead a better life.
It should be noted that the government of Pakistan has proposed to set the minimum wage of workers at 32 thousand rupees in the recent budget, but Sadaf Khan says that 15 thousand is the house rent, and 10 to 12 thousand went to electricity and gas bills. If you go and bring even the minimum ration, ten to twelve thousand rupees are spent.
How can we live in these forms, our life has become useless. Being forced to do two jobs. On normal days, things are going on normally, but if someone falls ill somewhere in the house, then the budget gets damaged.
He further said that the inflation meter is running continuously and does not stop. The price of everything is increasing every day, a box of cooking oil and ghee, which used to cost Rs 700, is now available for Rs 3200.
This is not only the situation of Sadaf Khan's family but it is the problem of every household where resources are less and expenses are high or rather it is the story of every laborer or low-income household.
"Income seven hundred expenses fifteen hundred"
The laborers digging for the pipeline laying on the side of the road in the hot afternoon were sweaty.
They have to get only seven hundred rupees for this work and they do this work continuously from seven in the morning to five in the evening. Apart from water and tea, there is a break for eating and praying.
Sharifullah belongs to Lucky Marwat and is a laborer working on a government project in the expensive Hayatabad area of Peshawar.
He said that the life of the laborer is ruined. He left his home two years ago and went to Islamabad to work there, but sometimes he got work there and sometimes he did not, then he came to Peshawar. Here they got labor but the income is so low that it is difficult to live.
He said that here a laborer gets 700 or 800 rupees per day, but when he goes home and calculates, the total cost is up to 1500 rupees. From this daily income, money has to be kept for rent, electricity bills, children's education, and other needs. Parental medicines are charged separately. Now tell me how it is possible to live in such conditions. People are forced to do wrong things. '
Sometimes I go to work without breakfast and my daughter goes to school.
Shahida works in a garment factory in Karachi and lives alone at home with her young daughter. The husband has remarried and lives with his second wife.
Shahida said that she gets 3500 to 4000 rupees a week and her monthly income is 18 to 20 thousand rupees. Spending a month on this salary is like gambling.
It has also become difficult to buy lentils and vegetables. Can't even think of chicken. Sometimes once in a month, if you bring a little chicken meat, it is a different matter, otherwise, it also happens that one time you eat and the other time you don't have food, and sometimes I go to work without breakfast. My daughter goes to school.'
When he was asked if the government has now proposed to fix the minimum salary of the laborer at 32000 rupees, he said that in the current inflation, it is less than 50 thousand rupees.
How does the government understand that the poor can live on this salary in this era of inflation?
The daily income of a tandoor worker is Rs 1000 and another is Rs 700
Muhammad Fida owns an oven and has five workers working with him. Among them are two skilled workers to whom they pay one thousand rupees per day while there are three unskilled workers to whom they pay seven hundred rupees per day.
He said that the government itself cannot pay the wages to the workers working in its own institutions and projects as much as it asks to be given to private institutions.
Every government increases the minimum wage for laborers in their budget and last year the minimum wage for laborers was set at Rs.25,000.
Here the question arises whether these announcements of the government are implemented or remain only until the announcement.
Some workers told the BBC that whenever the government made such announcements in the budget, they did not see them implemented.
Most of the workers said that if they go to big stores, salesmen or other people are working there, and their salaries are between eighteen thousand to twenty-two thousand rupees.
"Government's announcements are correct but ground realities are different"
Apparently, if you go to the market, the laborers for different jobs meet in their respective cities at their specific locations.
Most of them are daily wage laborers who are daily wage earners called a worker. They include masters i.e. skilled in their work, and unskilled as well and they show their ability to do different jobs.
Apart from this, there is a difference between the workers working in different factories and also between skilled workers and unskilled workers.
Mohammad Ishaq, the former president of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries, told the BBC that the government's announcements are correct, but the ground realities are different.
He said that here skilled workers get employment on their own terms and some skilled workers earn good salaries. Apart from this, if unskilled people come, then the employers provide employment to them on their own and it depends on the nature of their work.
He said that the situation is very dire at the moment, the costs of industries have increased, including the cost of raw materials, the continuous increase in energy prices, and other costs.
"I don't think the government can implement it because last year in an advertisement for the employment of government workers, the salary was fixed at 20 thousand rupees, so how can it be possible at the private level that the minimum salary of a worker is 32 A thousand rupees can be fixed.
He said that at present skilled people are not coming forward because there are no such institutions. And those who are coming forward are workers working on old systems and machines who cannot work on modern machinery. Only in Faisalabad, there is one institute that provides skilled labor for the textile industry and they are getting good employment.
Observers think that the government should give full attention to improving the conditions of the workers and for this, they should create institutions where they are trained according to modern requirements and then they can work in industries and other institutions.