Provincial Minister for Labour and Human Resource Raja Ashfaq Sarwar has said that brick kiln industry has a pivotal role in the development of economy.
The Punjab government is fully aware of the problems faced by brick kiln owners and will utilise its maximum possible resources for redressal of their grievances.
He said this during a meeting with a delegation of All Pakistan Brick Kiln Owners Association led by its Central President Shoaib Khan Niazi and General Secretary Mehr Abdul Haq here on Friday.
Niazi informed the minister regarding their reservations about raids on brick kilns by districts administration all over the Punjab, for implementation of Child Labour Ordinance. Sarwar said that child labour is a menace for the entire society and brick kiln owners are a vanguard of the Punjab government for eliminating child labour. He said that brick kiln owners have always extended cooperation to the government for elimination of child labour. He said the Punjab government will evolve an effective and practicable mechanism in consultation with brick kiln owners which will be acceptable for all the stakeholders.
The minister said that the strikes and protests of brick kiln owners will have a bad affect on the soft image of the country, economic activities and jobs of labourers. Niazi said that brick kiln owners want to resolve all the problems related to implementation of Child Labour Ordinance, minimum wages and enrollment of children of brick kiln labourers with mutual cooperation of the Punjab government and political leadership. Sarwar assured the delegation that their demands will be forwarded to the chief minister for favourable consideration.