FAISALABAD, March 18: The entire system of the Punjab Employees Social Security Institution (PESSI) is being computerised and anyone can check the status of contribution of any organisation after execution of the project. Speaking to members of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) here on Saturday, PESSI Commissioner Syed Tahir Raza Naqvi said here on Saturday that the provincial government had provided a lucrative amount of Rs20 million for the computerisation plan which would be completed soon.

He said all social security regional offices would be provided with secret pin codes which would be used for accessing the official web site. Data relating to the contribution, disbursement and expenditure was being compiled expeditiously, he added.

He claimed that work-charged employees of all the institutions had equal rights for getting benefits after a Supreme Court judgment.

He said the social security affairs were being run through a governing body, headed by the labour minister, and consisting of representatives from employees and employers. Faisalabad would be given representation in this committee and the matter would be discussed in the coming meeting, he said.

Mr Naqvi said a social security health management committee had been constituted in the private sector and representation had also been given to the government officials. The committee would run affairs of the social security institutions in Manga Mandi, Sheikhupura and Muzaffargarh and its working would be extended to other cities in phases.

He said PESSI would collect contribution from factories and 80 per cent of the total would be paid to this private committee under the agreement while 20 per cent would be spent on official affairs, he added.

He said PESSI had hospitals with a total of 1,400 beds in the province and this network would be expanded to 3,500 beds at a cost of Rs2.5 billion under which 100-bed hospitals were being built in Sialkot, Shahdra, Kot Lakhpat, Muzaffargarh, and 50-bed hospitals in Toba Tek Singh, Chakwal, and Taxila.

He said about 550,000 people were enrolled with the social security institution while benefits were being provided to their 3.5 million legal heirs. Industrial unit owners owed Rs720 to PESSI for the last so many years and this amount was increasing with an average of Rs150 million annually, he said.

Earlier, FCCI President Mian Muhammad Haneef highlighted the problems being faced by the industries in the contribution of PESSI funds and put forward suggestions for the welfare of workers.