Korean company asked not to trample labour rights

CHITRAL, April 14: The Young Star Development Organization (YASDO) of Ashiret has demanded that the Sambu Company should not violate the rights of the local labourers and dump the waste materials properly and filter the poisonous water from the tunnel which has put the lives and property of the people of Ashirate at risk. ‘Until now five people of Ashiret have died working in the tunnel. The company provides only Rs200,000 as a compensation without insurance and protection to the family of the victim. Recently, Shamsur Rehman belonging to Ashiret suffered head injuries while working inside the tunnel. He is not fully recovered and still feels dizziness. But the company refused to continue providing him complete treatment after initial check-up in Peshawar, said the YASDO. But when it comes to the Korean workers, the case becomes just the opposite. A few months ago when a Korean worker died at the site, two helicopters with a high protocol came to airlift him and reportedly his family received a handsome amount after filing a case against the company in the court, said Manager YASDO Ashirate Iftikhar Hussain. A member of YASDO complained that the Chief Justice after visiting the tunnel had ordered for the installation of a water treatment plant in the tunnel. The machine was  brought to the site but installed in a wrong place to treat the poisonous water. The floods of last few years have brought immense destruction to Ashiret but the dumping of waste material from the tunnel has doubled the miseries of the area people. Now the normal level of Ashiret Gol has risen which is more threatening for the life and property of the people in the area, said the chairman of YASDO, Mr Javeed Ahmad. “I himself worked as a security officer for two months in the tunnel without having a professional expertise for the job. Still there is no security officer to tackle emergency situations,” said social activist Javeed Ahmad. There is no professional doctor with the company; they have hired a technician on a meager pay for saving money. If the tunnel is a blessing for the whole Chitral, it has become a dark well for the people of Ashiret,” he  added. ‘The untreated poisonous water has destroyed our aquatic life, livestocks, human health in Ashiret. Clean drinking water for both people and animals has become a far cry as new 14 cases of hepatitis and 59 cases of typhoid shown in a report of a laboratory manifests the reality, said a member of YASDO on the occasion. The cases of premature abortion/stillbirth in livestock is a new phenomenon in the area, said Iftikhar Hussain while pointing towards a calf lying beside the road. “PTI has come forward with a slogan of justice but a few activists in the party circles have hijacked it for their interest,” said PTI president U.C. Ashiret. The  members of the YASDO also complained about the absence of teachers in the girls school and headmaster in boys school for past a few years and stoppage of funding for boys section in Ashiret Public School under ‘rukhana pakhtunkhwa program’ which had been introduced in 2012. Now the payment of fees for six months has become difficult for the people  in the poverty-ridden area.]]>