Caught between CDA and MCI, unpaid sanitation workers throw trash on city roads.

Byline: Ikram Junaidi

ISLAMABAD -- Sanitation workers who have not been paid for three months threw garbage on the roads of the city and held a sit-in outside the National Press Club (NPC) on Saturday.

With just a few days left to Christmas, the predominantly Christian workers also have little hope that they will be paid their dues in time for their religious holiday.

Pervaiz Masih, a sanitation worker, told Dawn: 'The prime minister should take notice of the issue and ensure the release of salaries to sanitary workers so they are able to celebrate Christmas.'

The workers appear to be casualties of an ongoing dispute between the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), both of which say the other is responsible for paying them.

According to Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz, the collection of garbage has been stopped because the CDA has not released Rs70 million needed to pay staff. However, a senior CDA officer has argued that the authority has cleared the dues of sanitation staff many times and it is now the MCI's responsibility.

Caught in the midst of this tussle, sanitation worker and mother of three Maria Masih told Dawn that it has become impossible to survive without being paid.

'We were living in a rented room in Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Rawalpindi. However, because I was not paid my salary, I was forced to vacate the room and moved to my mother's house in I-9,' she said.

The unpaid sanitation workers have stopped collecting garbage in the G and I sectors, other than in I-9 where permanent staff are still doing so. The situation has led to deterioration in the environment of these areas, as well as concerns that diseases could spread in the city.

A CDA official who asked not to be named said that the sanitation department was handed over to the MCI, but the corporation is not paying sanitation workers.

'The MCI used to pay the dues of contractors who collect garbage from different parts of the city, but it has stopped clearing the dues during the current government's tenure. It is just because the mayor is close to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and wants to defame the PTI government,' the official claimed.

According to a document available with Dawn, the MCI paid more than Rs136 million to contractors in the 2018-19 financial year.

'As the MCI stopped releasing funds, we have cleared the payment of contractors many times. Even on Friday, we released Rs30m to the MCI to mitigate the problems facing...