A Labourer is God’s Friend:

Waqas Ahmad supplicates to get due request

Waqas Ahmad, who sells sugarcane juice in Commercial Market, has three brothers and two sisters while his father has departed from this mortal world four years back. He says, “Two of us work to earn bread for the whole family and are forced to live from hand to mouth. We have to support our family by any means. It has now become very difficult for us to have two course meals due to sky-rocketing price-hike. A few years back our earning and benefit was fairly enough to run a business of our life a bit smoothly but now it is almost impossible to think of anything except one or sometime two course meals a day. Now the miseries, darkness and problems like poverty and high prices are engulfing poor people like me.”

“I start my work at 8:00 am and finish at 8:30 pm. I work so hard but despite that I get Rs 200 hardly which is very low even lower than the minimum wage limit which the government has fixed for the daily wage workers. We do not have any alternative job to do,” he added.

“After matriculation I tried to do a job somewhere but could not find it and after wandering for the job thought of doing this business which my elder brother used to do but he has left due to disadvantages and loss which he has to bear due to increase in the rates of sugarcane,” he complained.

“During the past few years I used to buy ‘one hundred sugarcanes for Rs 1700 but now we have to buy it for Rs 2600. Just see the difference which the inflation has made on the daily-use commodities. Consequently, we now sell one glass of sugarcane juice for Rs 25 as compared to last year’s price of Rs15,” he analysed.

“On one hand there is price-hike and petrol’s shortage while on the other hand the shopkeepers have started to charge more money from us for allowing us to put our stall in front of their shops on the other side of road or near their shops. Our sugarcane machine runs on petrol but the government has made the petrol a rare commodity and difficult-to-get-product. It has not only affected the affluent people who have luxurious vehicles and generators but also common men like us as well which is really pathetic to know,” he repented. – INFN (with picture)

“We take care of freshness and hygiene of our juice and have proper arrangements to keep away flies and bees by keeping it covered. People come to us early in the morning and they drink the juice on empty stomach and they are of the view that it is recommended for the ‘Yarqan’ (Jaundice),” he shared.

“This job is our last resort for survival because our country is already engulfed by hosts of unemployed people. I personally think something is better than nothing. I am thankful to God for what I have and also hope for the best as well because the whole world is running on hope. I do not feel shy in doing a job like the one I am doing right now. However, I am really hurt when people look down upon me. I request people not to detest the less resourceful and the working people like me and should rather encourage us to do well and excel in our jobs, instead,” he beseeched.