The families of the Baldia Town factory inferno victims would be given a financial assistance of Rs 500,000, the Sindh government has announced on Saturday. The compensation would be paid from Workers Welfare Fund of the provincial labour department to rehabilitate the affectees, said Secretary Labour Arif Elahi as a chief guest at the launching ceremony of training course for the families of Baldia Town victims.
The training course has been initiated by Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) in collaboration with International Labour Organization (ILO) and Pakistan Readymade Garments Technical Training Institute (PRGTTI). Arif said investigation of the tragic incident had been completed which will be submitted to the high-ups soon. He said the government’s strategy was to punish those responsible for the incident, rehabilitate the affectees and devise the plan to avoid such incidents in future. He said families of the affectees would also be provided medical facility through SESSI and pension would be extended through EOBI. He asked the PRGMEA Chief Sajid Saleem to arrange the registration of the workers of their members units so that his department could provide them medical and pension facilities besides allotting them flats in labor colonies.
Speaking on the occasion, ILO Director Francesco d’Ovidio said entire offices of the ILO in the world were concerned over the most tragic incident and were very keen to rehabilitate the victims’ families and those rendered jobless.
He said ILO Office, Islamabad, was supporting the labor department on the rehabilitation of victims and their families and part of this support includes training for employment for family members of the victims.
A Rapid Needs Analysis was conducted of 250 victims’ families (500 people) to identify their current skills and education, their training needs and match them with training opportunities, he added.
PRGMEA has shown interest in supporting the labour department’s efforts for the factory fire families’ rehabilitation through training and employment support, he said.
He agreed to the suggestion by PRGTTI Vice Chairman Younus Khamisani to oversee the rehabilitation/job placement of the affectees by a committee comprising ILO, PRGMEA, PRGTTI and the labour department.
Speaking on the occasion, PRGMEA Central Chairman Sajid Saleem Minhas vowed to rehabilitate the fire affectees and provide them job-oriented trainings at PRGTTI.
He said PRGMEA’s members had already been approached to provide jobs to the affectees after completion of their training.
Younus Khamisani said the best form of helping the affectees was to provide them jobs and PRGTTI is all out to provide them technical training which guarantees them job placement.
Director Program and Principal PRGTTI Maham Nasir and Kamran Sandho spelled out the detail of training program. Maham, particularly, mentioned that the trainees would be given a monthly Rs 3,500 stipend during training at PRGTTI.
Former Chairman PRGMEA Mohsin Ayub Mirza also spoke on the occasion.
