The ambitions of the cash rich state owned Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) to finance mega infrastructure projects has drawn criticism from the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) which has demanded that the government should use its funds for social security and welfare of private sector workers instead of spending on non-welfare purposes. President ICCI Yassar Sakhi Butt on Monday said that the workers were deprived of their old age pension, health and educational benefits as the government was spending and investing these funds in unnecessary and un-profitable investments.
He said that industrial workers of the private sector play vital role in the economic development of the country and they should be facilitated and all options should be utilised to secure their rights. He said the benefits provided by EOBI to workers were negligible and there was a need to chalk out a broad policy to safe-guard the rights of labourers. He urged the government to contribute in the social security funds being the trustee of these funds rather than spending such funds for the political and other non-development purposes.
