UPPER DIR, Sept 17: Work on the southern portion of the Lowari rail tunnel project has stopped because of strike by the labourers in protest against the alleged highhandedness of a Korean company.

The labourers accused the Sambu Company’s administration of violating the labour laws of the country, forcing them to work in a hazardous environment and depriving them of their basic rights.

Addressing a press conference here, Lane Engineer Shaukat, Jehan Alam, Sattar Khan and other representatives of the labourers complained that duty hours for labourers in Pakistan and elsewhere were eight hours a day but the company had forced them to work for 12 hours.

They said the labourers working in a perilous condition were not insured, which was a violation of the relevant laws. “We work in extremely perilous conditions in the tunnel and there is every possibility of a major accident causing injuries or even death to workers but the Sambu Company is not ready to give us insurance like its other employees,” Mr Alam said.

The company, they said, did not give any appointment letter to skilled and unskilled workers, deprived them of job guarantee and terminated their services without any notice and for no fault of theirs.

They said the workers were also not given the 40 annual holidays which was their right. “We are forced to work for 10 hours even in the month of fasting and the Koreans don’t allow us to perform our religious obligations,” they alleged, adding that the officials often abused them. “All the basic rights of labourers are usurped at the tunnel and we are no better than slaves,” they complained.

They said they would seek justice from labour courts.

The workers plan to hold a protest demonstration in Dir against the construction company that has been awarded the contract of the project scheduled to be completed by 2009.

The company’s administration in charge, Saddiqu, said it had accepted eight of nine demands of the workers yet they were not ready to resume work.

He said the company was not ready to accept the labourers’ demand of reducing the working hours from 12 to eight hours a day.

The representatives of labourers said they would continue the strike until the acceptance of their demands.