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| April 2, 2002 | Tuesday | Muharram 18,1423 |
Provinces to get money from Workers Welfare Fund: Draft ILO-2002 to be ready by June: Owais
ISLAMABAD, April 1: The Conference of Inter-Provincial Labour Ministers held here on Monday decided to send draft labour laws to the provincial governments and concerned stakeholders before presenting it to the federal cabinet for final approval.
The meeting was presided over by Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Owais Ahmed Ghani. The meeting was held as part of follow up action to the President’s directives to decentralize matters, relating to the welfare of the workers in accordance with the devolution of power plan at the grass-root level.
The participants of the meeting in principle agreed to release funds to the provinces from Workers Welfare Fund in four equal instalments for the various welfare projects executed by the provincial governments. It was also decided that allocation from the fund would be extended to Islamabad.
The existing limit of Rs5 million would also be increased to Rs75 million for various projects meant for the welfare of the workers at provincial level, they decided.
The meeting discussed consolidation and rationalization of various draft labour laws relating to industrial relations, employment conditions, wages, apprenticeship, vocational training, occupational safety and health, labour welfare and social safety net into six labour enactments.
It also decided to enhance the role of National Training Board by evolving central audio/video system for occupations skill at micro level throughout the country.
Speaking at the meeting, Federal Minister for Labour Owais Ahmad Ghani stressed the need for fair and judicious use of funds on the welfare schemes. He called for adopting a foolproof system of performance evaluation of various projects carried out by the federal and provincial governments for the welfare of workers.
The minister assured the participants that he would take up the release of stuck-up funds of the workers welfare with the Central Board of Revenue.
Besides others, the meeting was attended by provincial labour ministers of the NWFP and Punjab, and federal and provincial secretaries of ministries of labour.
Later, in an interview with the APP, Federal Minister for Labour Owais Ahmed Ghani said the consolidation and rationalization work on labour laws would hopefully be completed by June.
The minister said “Draft Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO) 2002” was almost complete to replace IRO 1969. He said the government throughout the process of consolidation, adopted the policy of consultation and views were sought from all stakeholders. “Though, initially there was divergence of views but a continued process of consultation made the ministry reach a consensus before the IRO 2002 draft was finalized,” he said.
He said two more laws, including laws on Payment of Wages and Condition of Services, had been redrafted. “In this way, numerous laws have been consolidated into three laws as work is also going on to consolidate the remaining laws,” he said. “The work on these laws should hopefully be completed before June,” he said, adding, “as minimum consensus on basic principles of these draft laws has been reached.” The minister said the labour policy, announced by the government, also played a major role in reaching a consensus.
Replying to a question about labour welfare activities, the minister said these activities also needed rationalization with a main focus on welfare. “We have to make the working of Workers Welfare Fund functioning cost effective to ensure the Fund is not misused like the past with leaving no space
for irregularities,” he said.
— APP/PPI
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