FAISALABAD:Punjab Minister for Labour and Human Resources Ansar Majeed Khan Niazi has said that his department has been fully digitalised and 99 per cent employers are making their contribution online.
Addressing the business community at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) on Thursday, he said that Faisalabad was the largest industrial hub of Punjab but the number of registered workers was only 2.5 to 3 lakh. However, he added, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), their number was much higher than the reported figure. He said that his department had introduced a self-assessment scheme under which an audit of only 15 per cent units would be conducted. He said that we have already announced an amnesty scheme under which one-time benefit of Rs 5.5 billion had been passed on to the employers, while they were also entitled for another relief of Rs 400 million per annum.
“All claims filed under self-assessment scheme would be accepted without any objection,” he said and added that
“We have signed an MoU with the Bank of Punjab to issue labour cards under which the card-holder could also enjoy special subsidy on their selected purchases”. He said that in Punjab, the number of registered labourers had jumped to 1,140,000.
He said that Workers Welfare Fund had been established in Punjab and employers have so far contributed Rs.1.5 billion in this head. “It will enable the government to pass on more relief to the workers,” he said and added that physical work had been started on many new social security hospitals in Punjab including one in Millat Industrial Estate Faisalabad.
He said that Rs 900 million had been released for the purpose in addition to allocating Rs 2 billion for the purchase of medicines.
About labour colonies, he said that currently 99 per cent outsiders were occupying these houses. He said we are introducing a new policy under which houses would be allotted to the workers on ownership basis after deducting a minor amount from their salary. He said that the government would construct labour women hostels for the industrial units who would provide land for it.
The minister further said that the self-assessment scheme was initially introduced in 2001 but only 21 units were registered under it. “However, now their numbers have reached to 11,500,” he said and added that the industrial units that would not register themselves, would not only be prone to regular inspections but also subjected to audits.
The provincial minister said that he was not in favour of constructing new dedicated schools for the children of secured workers but instead we are contemplating introducing a voucher system through which the children of workers could get admission to any school of their choice. He said that currently 48,000 students are enrolled in 56 schools but after introducing the voucher scheme, their number could jump to double.
The minister also promised giving due representation to the FCCI in the governing bodies of Social Security and WWF.
Secretary Labour Liaquat Ali Chattha said that on the directions of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the department would introduce a new scheme for the SME sector. He said disbursement of death, marriage grants and scholarships was stopped for the last two years. However, now we have started issuing grants and during 90 days, cheques amounting to Rs 8 billion would be disbursed to the workers or their families. He further said that the widows and children of workers could also submit their applications through the on-line system and their applications would be settled on a fast track basis. He further said that currently 450 students of workers are studying in medical and engineering colleges only because of the contribution paid by the employers.
Earlier President FCCI Atif Munir Sheikh explained in detail the problems confronted by the business community and demanded that a CT scan machine should be provided to the social security hospital Faisalabad.