Slaving away all day to make ends meet

MUZAFFAR, who came to Lahore two years ago to work as a labourer, is not content with what he is earning. He is a sole bread earner for a family of seven, including aged parents. He also spends from his earning on his lodging and food. It is extremely difficult for him to make ends meet.

Basically a peasant, Muzaffar and his family have been into farming for decades. The family still owns a small agricultural land in his village in Okara district, which is no longer productive to fulfill its economic needs.

One day Muzaffar decided to go to Lahore for better prospects. All his hopes dashed to the ground after he landed in the city. Since he was not a skilled worker, he had no option but to work as a labourer. He started standing at Wapda Town Chowk along with the other labourers for work. He had to survive on leftovers and sleep on the roadside for a week. Then he came across a bunch of labourers and he moved with them in a shed in a village. He and his colleagues get up early in the morning, go to Wapda Town Chowk to have their breakfast and look for work. This has become a routine for them.

Muzaffar is not alone in his struggle for survival. Hundreds, if not thousands, like him stand at city crossings daily in search of work on a day-to-day basis. Most of them are from villages and are farm workers. Some of them also have small landholdings. They live in groups in small rooms in poor localities. They pool monthly rent and eat their food mostly at roadside eateries and tanoors. Many of them also sleep at the Data Sahib shrine and survive on charity food to save as much money as they can.

According to a conservative estimate, there are 70 to 80 places where masons, labourers, carpenters and those have some skill in painting and whitewashing gather early morning to be hired for work.

Their concentration is more in areas where new colonies are coming up or construction work is on the rise like Defence, Wapda Town and nearby localities, Township, ‘Phatak” on Ferozepur Road, Qainchi Amar Sadhu, Mozang Adda, Icchra, Model Town, Chauburji, Chowk Yateem Khana, Scheme Morr, Dubai Chowk in Allama Iqbal Town, Ghazi Road, Lorry Adda, Azadi Chowk, Delhi Gate, Bhati Gate, Chowk Nakhuda, Wasssanpura, Shadbagh, Chowk Neelam Cinema, Samanabad, Pakki Thatti, Gulshan-i-Ravi, Muslim Town, Aabpara Chowk on Wahdat Road, Mughalpura, Chowk Shalamar, Baghbanpura, Harbanspura and Jallo Morr.

A mason usually earns about Rs400 a day and a construction worker between Rs200 and 250 in nine hours a day. They also work overtime to make extra money. Carpenters and those engaged in painting and whitewashing invariably work on contract and their financial terms are decided according to the volume of work. If calculated in terms of hours, their earning also comes in the range of a mason.

Luckier among them are those who work with a contractor on a relatively permanent basis.

A construction worker also becomes a mason after years of hard labour. For this, too, he has to work really hard to win the blessings of his mentor (ustad) who doesn’t easily pass on the tricks of the trait to him.

This workforce is not only irregular in nature but it also does not have any protection — legal or social. They work for weeks, months without any break. Most of them cannot go on a leave even in cases of emergency. They have to work 30 days a month and brave all weathers to make ends meet.