LAHORE: Questioning whether the lives of marginalised citizens carry less value in the eyes of the law, a Punjab Assembly Member and Chairman of Public Accounts Committee-III, Ahmad Iqbal Chaudhary, tabled a bill on Tuesday for the establishment of a permanent legal framework to ensure the safety, security, dignity and welfare of sanitation workers across the province.

Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan pended the bill, advising the mover to consult the treasury as it involved finances and no money bill could be tabled as a private member.

The Punjab Waste and Sanitation Workers (Dignity, Safety, Security and Welfare) Bill 2026 comes on the heels of recent tragic deaths of sanitation workers in Sahiwal and Faisalabad. Moving past temporary administrative measures usually taken after individual workplace disasters, the proposed legislation seeks to mandate robust statutory protections, social security, and occupational safety equipment for sanitation workers across the province.

Criticising the historical societal double standard regarding workers’ safety, Chaudhry said that while tragedies affecting privileged demographics trigger immediate accountability, deaths among the most vulnerable communities are routinely ignored.

He stressed that sanitation staff, overwhelmingly belonging to marginalised and minority groups, face both severe physical hazards and social stigma without adequate legal safeguards.

Emphasising that the nature of an individual’s work can never justify denying them fundamental human dignity or equal legal protection, he asserted that basic workplace safety must be guaranteed by law rather than left to discretionary administrative oversight.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2026