Daily Times

KARACHI: Despite passage of three years, the Sindh government has not made any concrete effort to materialize its commitment to launch women-only buses specifically for maids, it is learnt.

In year 2013, a non-governmental organization (NGO), Urban Resource Center had put the proposal of separate transport for female domestic workers before the Sindh’s transport department which was later seconded by the department in a meeting held on October 9, 2013.

The secretary transport, mass transit, Taha Farooqui, then lauded the URC’s efforts for pointing out the problems being faced by ‘Massis’ (house cleaners) as he was of the view that labour class contributes in country’s economy while they have to look after their children as well due to joint family system.

The secretary had assured that the government would make all out efforts for the welfare of the maids as well as public of the city. He had asked the NGO to submit the proposal at the earliest and assured that the matter would be resolved on fast track basis for the betterment of the working women especially labour class localities.

However, despite passage of around 3 years, the department seems reluctant to initiate any action on the proposal submitted by the NGO facilitating the working women of the city.

Massis leave their residence in the wee hours on regular basis from poor localities like Shershah, Orangi, Korangi, Lyari, and other katchi abadies (slums). The Massis are used to take lift from the mazdas and pickup vans as they cannot afford fares. The Massis travel in shape of groups for their safety. In Karachi, the ages of Massis range from 10 years to 60.

Meanwhile, Transport and Mass Transit Department of the Sindh government are working on the fast track to solve the problem of the transport faced by the commuters due to shortage of transport as per the population. And, the transport department is working on various projects i.e. Yellow, Red and Green projects on war footing basis in light of the study carried out by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) team.