TOBA TEK SINGH: Brick kiln workers continued their sit-in for the fourth consecutive day on Monday at Shahbaz Chowk.

They also staged a demonstration outside the labour welfare department complex and burnt an effigy of the department’s assistant director over his alleged apathy in resolving their issues.

Addressing the gathering, Pakistan Bhatta Mazdoor Union Vice President Muhammad Shabbir and other worker leaders said no official had paid attention to their demands over the four days of the protest. They announced that their sit-in will continue indefinitely.

The protesters demanded implementation of Punjab government’s notification of minimum wages under which the kiln owners had to pay Rs1,110 per 1,000 bricks to workers but they were paying only Rs700 or Rs800.

SHRINE CARETAKER: The caretaker of a shrine in Pirmahal died when a cement block of the shrine’s iron gate collapsed. Another person was injured.

Police said construction work was under way at the shrine of Baba Nikkay Shah under supervision of the auqaf department when a heavy cement block from one side of the iron gate suddenly collapsed.

Caretaker Syed Akhtar Hussain, who was supervising the construction work near the gate, was hit by the block and died instantly, while labourer Tahir was injured seriously and admitted to the Pirmahal THQ hospital.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2018