The utility stores employees fear that non-availability of safety equipment and increased public contact due to prevailing lockdown in the country have exposed them to Coronavirus threat.
We are fighting on the frontline but without the masks, sanitizers and other safety equipment, said an employee working at a utility store in Aabpara, Islamabad.
The employee on condition of anonymity told Naya Daur that the government didn’t take safety measures for employees working at 4,000 USC outlets in the country. He said non-cooperative attitude of customers is an additional risk to their health.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has recently announced a relief package of Rs15 billion for utility stores operational across the country. Many food items such as flour, sugar, rice and oil etc are available at the USC outlets at cheaper rates.
The current lockdown has left people with no option but to rush to the USC outlets for grocery. Long queues of customers are being observed outside utility stores in Pakistan in the twin cities. No screening facility is available at the entry points of the outlets.
Another utility store employee in Aabpara on condition of anonymity said, “The government has put our lives at risk”. He said the number of customers during lockdown has increased fourfold.
He also confirmed that workers have not been provided masks and other precautionary equipment so far.
There is also a need for the screening machines at the entrances of utility stores.
Utility Store Corporation Managing Director Umer Lodhi rejected the claims and said that the government had provided safety equipment such as masks and sanitizers to their staff, adding that non-cooperative attitude of customers had put the employees’ health at risk.
Umer Lodhi added that the USC staff was serving the nation in this emergency situation and was exposed to Coronavirus threat. Irked by customers’ non-cooperative attitude, Lodhi said public is not taking safety guidelines seriously despite the staff’s efforts to maintain distance.
MD Lodhi said that the sale of food items on utility stores had reached Rs 450,000 million per day, which was never observed before.
If the sale on the outlets maintains the same momentum, we can face shortage of items in the coming weeks, he said. About the provision of screening facility, Lodhi said that it was impossible for the department to provide screening facility at around 4,000 utility stores all over the country since the product is not available in the market.