THREE sanitation workers had died while working in raw sewage gutters in Karachi’s Usmanabad are last September. The tragedy was repeated in April, with another three sanitation workers dying in identical circumstances. These so-called accidents are, in truth, acts of murder, as workers were sent into toxic sewage pits without even the most basic safety equipment or precautions.

As safety is a direct responsibility of the top management in any civilised country, the chief executive of the relevant authority would often face a prison term. There should have been an FIR filed against the relevant authorities, including the chairmen of the respective union councils (UCs), for their unforgivable criminal negligence. By failing to do so, we have failed to protect the weak and the vulnerable.

Our sanitation workers have been cruelly left to die in sewage gutters for the last 80 years. It is time for assemblies to legislate a complete ban on manual scavenging and entry of workers into sewage gutters.

Naeem Sadiq
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2026