Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday announced child labour at brick kilns will be eliminated within six months, while residence in labour colonies on ownership basis will be allotted to industrial workers.
He was addressing foundation stone laying ceremony of Workers Welfare Complex adjacent to Sundar Industrial Estate on Manga-Raiwind Road.
He directed the provincial labour minister and the Labour Department secretary to immediately evolve a comprehensive plan in this regard and ensure its implementation.
He said that 7,000 instead of 3,000 flats would be constructed in Workers Welfare Complex and would be handed over to industrial workers within two and a half years.
“This project worth billions of rupees would realise the dream of workers and labourers to have their own house,” he added.
Similarly, he said, the project of construction of 992 flats in Multan had been started, while 300 flats had been built in Muzaffargarh and given to industrial workers.
“Labour colonies will be set up in Punjab wherever state land was available and the government will provide funds for the purpose,” he added.
He said that elimination of child labour at brick kilns was a big challenge and hoped that the authorities concerned would meet this challenge efficiently.
DEMAND OF SKILLED MANPOWER IN GULF:
He said that there was a lot of demand for skilled manpower in Gulf countries, adding that said the Punjab government had constituted a steering committee in this regard.
“If 200,000 skilled workers get job opportunities in Gulf countries during next two years, it is going to be a big revolution,” he said.
He congratulated labourers, workers, peasants and farmers on International Labour Day and said that the dream of progress and prosperity of the country could not be realised without prosperity of those who work hard for the economic development of the country.
He said that labourers in Chicago rendered supreme sacrifices for the protection of their rights, however, the dignity and respect given by Islam to labourers, workers and farmers was unprecedented.
“Islam has declared a worker as the friend of Allah Almighty,” he pointed out.
The government, he said, had set up hospitals, schools, medical colleges and provided other facilities for labourers and workers in the province and steps were being taken for their welfare and betterment.
SUGARCANE PRICE FIXED AT RS 182 PER MAUND:
Referring to the prices of sugarcane, he said that traditionally the Sindh government kept the price of sugarcane two rupees higher than Punjab, adding that this year, when Punjab fixed sugarcane price at Rs 180 per maund, the Sindh government announced Rs 182 but suddenly reduced this rate to Rs 155. Upon this, he said, the mill owners of Punjab raised hue and cry but he did not allow reduction in sugarcane price and made it clear that farmers’ economic interests would be upheld at any cost and he would resign if the price of sugarcane was decreased even by a single penny. The case relating to sugarcane price was in the Supreme Court and he was confident that its decision would be based on justice, he said.
PTI’S CHIEF’S STATEMENT DISAPPOINTING:
The chief minister said the statement of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan in which he termed Daanish schools as a scandal and demanded a probe by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as shameful and misleading. He said that Khan should know that these schools had been set up for the children of labourers, workers, poor and destitute people, children of widows and orphans who were deprived of even basic facilities.
Daanish schools, he asserted, were not only imparting free education of a high quality to these children but also providing them boarding and lodging facilities free of charge.
He said, “Daanish schools are like parents to the children, therefore, a network of Daanish schools has been laid in the backward districts of South Punjab.”
He said that the schools looked like a scandal to PTI chief only because they were meant for the poorest of the poor segments of the society. He said that why Khan was not criticising Aitchison, LUMS and grammar schools for the children of the elite.
Addressing the workers and labourers, he said that these 95 percent people constitute the real Pakistan but Khan was supporting only five percent elite and ignoring 95 percent workers and labourers.
He invited the PTI chief to go with him to NAB because if billions and trillion of rupees of nation were returned, it would change the destiny of the nation, begging bowl would be broken and Pakistan would not have to face humiliation.
