ISLAMABAD: Shakir Jan is very happy these days, because he does not have to get up early in the morning. The 14-year-old boy from Peshawar has been residing in I-11 Kachi Abadi with his family for four years.

“It is important for me to get up early in the morning as I work as a scavenger to earn livelihood for my

family,” Jan said, adding it was difficult for him to get up early in the morning to pick up waste from different sectors of the capital, especially at a time when other children were waiting for their school buses in the streets.

Jan hardly earned Rs200 from the garbage he collected from different locations till 11am.

However, since the protests by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) began, he earns Rs300 to Rs400 daily with ease.

“I get up at around 10am and reach D-Chowk on my bicycle to collect the waste. I easily fill my bags with waste items for almost three weeks. I wish the protesters remain at D-Chowk forever, as it is easy for me to earn livelihood for my family.”

Waste pickers find it easier to collect waste from Red Zone, instead of going around the city

Bakht Jahan, 13, another resident of Sector I-11 Kachi Abadi, has also adopted the same profession.

“One of my friends told me that I can accompany them to the Red Zone to collect waste. Since the last few days, it has been very easy for me to collect bottles, shopping bags and boxes from the same place due to the presence of the protesters,” said Jahan.

He said that the protesters used bottles for water and boxes for food and the scrap shop owners liked to buy plastic bottles.

Like Shakir Jan and Bakht Jahan, 32-year-old Waqas Khan from Bhara Kahu said he also collected waste to earn livelihood for his family.

“Earlier, I was used to get up early in the morning to collect scrap from different locations. But now I reach D-Chowk and collect the waste,” he said.

Khan said it was great for the waste pickers that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) staff did not pick up the trash from the Red Zone.

“I am earning Rs500 per day here, while it was difficult to earn Rs300 before the start of the sit-ins in the city,” he added.

According to the waste pickers, around 200 labourers collect waste from the Red Zone as it has become relatively easy for them to earn their livelihood due to the presence of the protesters.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd , 2014