HYDERABAD: Moot calls for defining powers of councillors
By Our Correspondent
HYDERABAD, April 26: A labour councillors’ conference here on Saturday called for clearly defining powers of councillors to avoid ambiguity and confrontation.
The one-day conference was organized by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) and its Labour Rights Committee (LRC) at the district council hall.
The conference was divided into three sessions in which group discussions were also held by councillors and labour union leaders.
Speaking on the occasion, District Naib Zila Nazim Nawab Rashid Ali Khan lashed out at bureaucrats for sabotaging the devolution plan.
He said he had received several complaints from councillors who claimed that they were being sidelined in union councils.
He regretted that the National Reconstruction Bureau’s local bodies system only revolved around union council Nazims and it was least concerned about the problems of councillors.
He demanded that President Gen Pervez Musharraf should hold NRB officials accountable for not clearly defining the role and powers of councillors and impose check and balance over the bureaucracy which was ignoring local bodies representatives.
He said MNAs and MPAs had also created differences with local bodies representatives as their role and powers were not defined clearly.
About the role of councillors and labourers in implementation of the new labour policy, LRC convener Momin Khan said the Labour Standing Committee, which was formed by the government, was ignored while formulating the labour policy.
He appreciated the abolition of the Labour Appellate Tribunals.
Condemning the contract system of workers, Mr Khan said it was the first labour policy that covered this issue.
He said the contract system could be eliminated through proper legislation and strict implementation over the charter of the UN and clauses 38 and 98 of the International Labour Organization.
The PILER coordinator for Sindh, Umer Abbas, urged labour councillors to prepare minutes of their union council meetings and send them to the PILER which would send the same to the concerned quarters.
Minority councillor M. Parkash said only five per cent representation was given to labourers although they constituted 70 per cent of the population.
He said councillors should be given TA/DA.
RESULTS: The University of Sindh on Thursday announced the results of BCom (pass), part-I, annual examination, 2002.
According to an official notification, 1,542 candidates appeared in the annual examinations, out of which 865 passed the examinations. Of the total, 45 candidates remained absent while the conduct branch has withheld results of 76 candidates.
