LAHORE:Provincial Minister for Mines and Minerals Ibrahim Hassan Murad said on Thursday that an advisory board of all departments related to mining should be formed and the accident rate should be brought to zero, while ensuring safety of mine workers.
Presiding over a review meeting on welfare of mine workers and other measures at his camp office on Thursday, he said the demand for Pakistani labour was very high worldwide, and education and skills should be imparted to them.
The meeting also discussed establishment of joint helpline for the Mines Labour Welfare Commissioner (MLWC) and Chief Inspectorate of Mines (CIM), steps and strategies to get real-time images of underground mines on monthly basis, amendments to the Mines Act, 1923 to introduce e-challan, list of pending challans, mines rescue stations online monitoring, increasing student seats in mining as well as survey diplomas, calls received with location at mines rescue stations during last five years, trend of mining accidents for last 10 years,
target of senior research officer for the next two months, a detailed review of target of collection of samples by officers, establishment of Mining School/Institute in district Khushab, recruitment to key posts, strict action against lease holders for repeated violations, online inspection portal and other issues reviewed in details.
During the briefing, the provincial minister was informed that establishment of joint helpline, action plan with the Punjab Information and Technology Board (PITB) has entered the final stages for formal launch of a helpline 1325 on January 11.
Minister Ibrahim Murad said it would be much better to go to the field itself than to rely on pictures for monitoring of mines. He said that all mine owners should be registered and work online by leveraging technology to adapt to modern requirements to save time and get the best and transparent results.
Additional secretary Technical Mines and Minerals, chief inspector Mines Punjab, Lahore and other persons concerned attended the meet
ing.