LAHORE: Overly enthusiastic about various projects such as the signal-free corridor and the Orange Line train, the Punjab government or the city district administration has turned a blind eye to the issue of child labour which is being used for many construction activities.

As work on various projects including the signal-free corridor (from Gulberg to Shadman via Jail road) is being carried out by private contractors under the supervision of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) or other civic agencies/departments, a number of underage workers belonging to Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh have been hired for menial jobs.

Officials visit the sites to take stock of the pace of work but seldom point out the presence of underage workers on sites.

“I am 15 and work here as labourer. Here I receive daily wage of Rs400. And I also get free meals three times a day with camped residence,” Muhammad Karim, a resident of Faisalabad, told Dawn while working on the site of the signal-free corridor’s overhead bridge near Siddique Trade Centre.

Karim said since his family was facing financial hardships, he came to Lahore from Faisalabad and started labour at this project after meeting a representative of the contractor (Habib Constructions).

Under section 14 of the Employment of Children Act, 1991, “Whoever employs any child or permits him/her to work in contravention of the provisions of section 3 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with a fine which may extend to Rs20,000 or with both.”

Anees Anjum, a 17-year-old boy, was also found at work at a site near Zafar Ali Road. Anjum’s supervisor Basharat claimed that none of the labourers was less than 18 years of age.

A contractor providing labour to the Habib and other construction firms claimed that the workers engaged in the work were 20 to 22 years old. “I have only one worker who is 18 or 19 years,” he added. But when he was reminded of a 15-year-old boy at work, he said, “he (Karim) is 18 or 19 years old.”

In such a situation the government’s recent crackdown on brick kilns exposing children to hazards seems no more than a halfhearted attempt to check child labour. The government had on Jan 15 launched a special drive to eliminate child labour at brick kilns under the Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Ordinance 2016.

District Officer (Labour) Syed Hasnat Javaid told this reporter that the Employment of Children Act 1991 didn’t cover those above 14 years. “This law defines child as up to 14 years. And such children cannot work at various workplaces. But this law doesn’t prohibit the adolescents (14 to 18 years) from work,” he said.

Admitting that the law needed to be improved, he said the Punjab government was set to repeal this law by introducing the Punjab Restriction of Employment of Children Act soon.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2016