ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: Asghar Khan is not going back to his home in Swabi to celebrate the Eid. A daily wage earner, he could not make enough money in Ramazan.
“I could not make it to my home because I have no money to buy even the bus ticket to my village which is hardly two hours' drive from here,” Khan said while talking to this reporter on Tuesday.
As most of the residents of the capital city left for their hometowns to celebrate Eidul Fitr; these labourers still dash towards someone the moment they enter the market assuming that they are a contractor, said Husnain Ashraf, who lives in the locality.
Around 10 to 12 labourers carrying their tools like shovels, spades and digging forks were still waiting for a miracle contractor on the eve of chand raat, ignoring the fact that almost every contracted business remains closed at least for a week before and after Eid. For Khan, a painter by profession, Eid has no big joy. Though, routinely, the return bus fare to his native Swabi is around Rs300, during the Eid rush it goes up phenomenally. “At this moment, my pockets are empty,” he said.
With tension on his face and holding back his tears, Khan said: “I have five children and they must be waiting for me on Eid in the hope that their father will be coming home with gifts and food. I failed to find a contract job during Ramazan. A sum of Rs1,000 was handed over to me by a philanthropist few days back.”
Hashim Khan, a fellow worker, who is also from Swabi, said: “We are suffering from extreme poverty. People do come to us and knowing the fact that we are without money, they offer us meals, not money.”
I have eight children and could not make it to my hometown even on the big religious festival only because I have no money. All I have is Rs800 and in this meagre amount you can't feed or even buy a toy for your children."
"Sometimes I plan to commit robbery but then I fear Allah. I am having all my hopes in Him till I die peacefully,” he said. Hashim said they slept on the green belts near the double road at Peshawar Mor and got two-time meals from philanthropists.
"The labourers may not find any work for the next one week, because even our work force is on leave till September 20,” said a CDA project director, working on a prime road development project.
"The work force remains on leave till the time their finances dry out and then they start coming back,” he added. "It will be tough for the daily wage workers to find any work,” he said.
It may be noted that the federal government in its Economic Survey 2011-12 did not give exact poverty figures.
An economic analyst added that there were no figures available on poverty since 2005-06. The Statistics Division, he said, was pressured by the government not to show the actual figures even though the percentage of population living below poverty line was believed to be over 40 per cent.
The Economic Survey 2011-12 claimed that Pakistan had experienced reduction in absolute poverty over a four-year period (2002-06) as poverty headcount decreased from 34.5 per cent in 2000-01 to 22.3 per cent in 2005-06, the analyst said. The United Nations Development Programme's multidimensional indicators of poverty for Pakistan as shown by Centre for Poverty Reduction and Social Policy Development said in terms of deprivation of different indicators, around 52 per cent of the population fell below the poverty line.
He said inflation rate in Pakistan was 13. 8 per cent in July 2011. The inflation rate refers to a general rise in prices measured against a standard level of purchasing power of the public. The analyst added that it was the job of the federal government to work out a comprehensive plan to tackle rising inflation and food prices. — Staff Reporter