Those who clean our gutters deserve our respect

Cantonment Executive Officer, CBC

CC-38, Street No.13, Kh-e-Rahat, Phase-VI, DHA, Karachi.

Phone: +92-21-35847831-2,

Dear Sir,

Request for Information under   Article 19A of the Constitution and   The “Right of Access to Information Act 2017”.

The information relating to the “Guttermen” of CBC, provided to us vide your Letter ALA/53/01/2020 dated 29.01.2020 reveals the following facts:

1. That CBC employs 120 Guttermen for physically entering and cleaning the gutters.
2. That out of 120 Guttermen, 111 Guttermen are non-Muslims and 9 are Muslims.

As a citizen of Pakistan, who believes in equal rights and equal opportunities for citizens of all faiths, this massive statistical disproportionality is a matter of great concern and anguish.

I would therefore like to request that the following information be provided (under the RTI law stated above).

1. Please provide a copy of the CBC newspaper advertisements for recruitment of “Guttermen” for the last 20 years.
2. The number of “Guttermen” of CBC who lost their lives while working on, inside or because of gutters in the last 20 years.
3. Health and Safety being the ultimate responsibility of the top management, please give reasons why should legal proceedings not be initiated against the CEO and the Chief Engineer CBC, for making the Guttermen work in life-threatening conditions without providing them a single piece of PPE. Please see the two attached pictures.

Kindly provide the requested information within 10 working days as stipulated in the RTI law.

Sincerely,

Naeem Sadiq