Labourers find it hard to keep heads above water.

RAWALPINDI -- At a time when even affluent individuals find it increasingly difficult to cope with the ever-increasing inflation, the day labourers and daily wagers have been hit severely by the crisis.

During the worsening economic situation, not only are they struggling to ward off mental agonies, but they also have to stave off hunger.

A score of day labourers turns up at Chauhar Chowk and Rajar Bazaar with the tools of their trade, watching every passer-by with the hope that they will hire them while in return, the wagers will have some money to take home by dusk.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the daily wagers show up on the footpaths in large numbers with their hammers, shovels, hoes and paint brushes, etc.

They go through the demoralising wait every day with their fellows for whom feeding their families twice a day has turned into an agonising task.

Those who get job leave for their work, and those who do not, return home dejected with the hope that they will come here again tomorrow and try their luck again.

The daily wagers wait for the employers with empty stomachs until some benevolent philanthropist comes with a one-time meal to satisfy their hunger. Although they get to eat for one time the thoughts about the empty stomachs of their families keep worrying them.

Muhammad Rasheed, Gulzar Ahmed and Mushtaq Ahmed said that with the rise in inflation, it has become very difficult to buy...