PESHAWAR: Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF) provincial president Razim Khan has urged the government to ensure early retrieval of the labourers buried under debris of a mine in Quetta and compensate the families of the deceased persons.

Talking to journalists here on Monday, he said several workers went missing in a coalmine at Harnai but the government was least bothered to pay proper attention to retrieval of the bodies. He said relatives of the workers were in mental shock.

Mr Khan said eight of the missing workers belonged to Karo Dara area of Upper Dir, adding some of them had been dug out, but the pace of work was too slow. He said the government was not taking action against the contractors, who sent workers in the thousands of feet deep underground mine without giving them safety kits.

Razim Khan urged the government to announce a financial package for the victims’ families and stop exploitation of workers at the hands of mine companies in Balochistan and other parts of the country.

“Had the contractor given safety kits and necessary training to the workers the incident would have never taken place,” he observed. The workers of PWF, he warned were ready to start protest demonstrations if government failed to compensate families of the deceased mineworkers.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017