LAHORE: The field enumerators conducting the Baseline Survey for Child Labour across the province are being denied of their wages for many months.

The Bureau of Statistics (BoS), Punjab, had launched the survey in June this year and recruited field enumerators through walk-in interviews.

The graduate enumerators, who join the project from time to time, have complained that the BoS had not disbursed their wages for the past many months.

An enumerator, while speaking to Dawn, said he had joined the project in August and since then he had not been paid even a single penny. Being without wages, he said, he had been pushed to borrow money.

He claimed that the BoS officials were not even explaining to the enumerators about delay in wages. “We are still in the dark about our wages,” he said.

BoS Punjab Director-General Sajid Rasul said the wages were delayed because the treasury had not transferred funds to the bureau office.

“A cheque has now been received and the wages will be disbursed to enumerators in a week,” he said. Stating that the enumerators are still working with the project, he said delays in payments happened only when there was a delay in the disbursement of development budget.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2016