KARACHI: Despite the fact that child labour had been declared a crime in the province, the government has so far taken no action against anyone involved in the practice of employing children below the age of 14, the Sindh Assembly was informed on Friday.

A couple of months ago, the Sindh Assembly unanimously passed the Sindh Prohibition of Employment of Children Bill, 2017 that carries up to six-month imprisonment and a fine up to Rs50,000 for the offenders. And if a child is employed for a hazardous job, the prison term may be extended up to three years with Rs100,000 fine.

On Friday, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmaker Samar Ali Khan asked the labour minister as to what action, if any, had been taken against the violators of the child labour law.

Survey to determine number of minors involved in child labour to be completed in 2019

Responding to the question during the Sindh Assembly’s Question Hour, Labour Minister Nasir Shah said that the law had been enacted by the house only a few months back, and although the amount of fine as well as prison term had been enhanced, so far no action had been taken against anyone under the new law.

The session was chaired by Deputy Speaker Shehla Raza and began an hour and 55 minutes behind the scheduled time of 10am.

To a question by Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Sumeta Syed regarding the number of children below the age of 14 involved in child labour in the province, the minister said that no authentic data was available with the labour department.

He added that a survey was being conducted by the labour department and Unicef and data would be shared with the house as soon as the survey was completed.

Responding to a query by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional legislator Nusrat Sahar Abbasi about the initiation and completion dates of the survey, the minister said that it was a three-year-long project, which was started in 2016 and would be completed in 2019.

He said its budget was Rs54 million and an amount of Rs13m had been allocated in the current budget.

Ms Abbasi also asked whether Jamshoro was declared a child labour-free district and, if yes, then why no other district was declared the same. The minister replied that Jamshoro had been taken as a model where officials carried out regular visits of factories to ensure that underage children were not employed.

He said gradually this model would be extended to other districts and eventually to the whole province.

To another question by Mr Khan as to why officials were not taking action against the violators of the law, the minister said that he would direct the officials concerned to act quickly and take stern action against the violators to curb the child labour menace.

Mr Shah, who also holds the portfolio of information, said that the punishment for those employing children below 14 had been enhanced in the new law.

3,397 factories closed in Sindh

Ms Abbasi also asked about the district-wise number of factories, mills and industries running in the province and number of employees working on a regular/daily-wage basis.

The department submitted a detailed written reply to her question stating that the total number of running and closed factories in Sindh was 6,639 and 3,397, respectively.

She asked a supplementary question that why almost 50 per cent of the factories in Karachi had been shut down — Central district has been the most affected area in the city where over 1,288 factories had been closed down and only 422 were operational.

The minister said that there were many reasons, including partnership disputes, losses, bank loans, etc, but worsening law and order and extortion were the main reasons behind their closures.

He, however, added that the MPA had asked this question about two years ago and the department submitted old figures. However, the number of operational factories had now increased in the province to 9,869 because of improvement in the law and order situation, he added.

The chair reminded the ministers to present the updated data and, if not in the written form, than they should at least verbally inform the assembly.

Shehla Raza did not allow MQM legislator Sabir Qaimkhani to ask a supplementary question. However, he insisted and continued to speak although his mike was switched off. She instantly announced the conclusion of Question Hour.

Moment of silence for Quaid’s daughter

At the outset of Friday’s session, the house also observed one-minute silence for Dina Wadia, the estranged daughter of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who passed away at her home in New York on Thursday.

After Question Hour, two of the five call-attention notices — one by Ms Abbasi and the other by MQM’s Sabir Qaimkhani — were taken up by the chair.

The remaining notices could not be taken up as the ministers concerned were not present in the house.

The privilege motion of MQM’s Kamran Akhtar, adjournment motion of PTI’s Khurram Sherzaman and a government bill — The Sindh Safe Blood Transfusion Bill 2017 — could not be taken up as the chair adjourned the session till Monday.

In her call-attention notice, Ms Abbasi drew the attention of the authorities towards a media report which claimed that four women inmates got pregnant while confined in Larkana prison and also gave birth.

Law Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar termed the report “baseless” and claimed that the women inmates were already pregnant when they were sent to prison.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2017