LAHORE, Sept 2: Employees Old Age Benefits Institution Chairman Brig Akhtar Zamin called on Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool here on Friday and discussed measures for simplification of the procedure for payment of pension to industrial workers reaching 60 years of age.

The EOBI chairman informed the governor that 56,000 industrial and commercial organizations were making contributions equal to five per cent of the salaries of their workers for payment of pensions to their workers. Workers could also get Rs1,400 per month pension by getting Rs20 per month deducted from their salaries. The EOBI was paying pensions to 1.25 million workers in 26,132 industrial units in Punjab.

The governor appreciated the EOBI performance and said that the government would extend pension facilities to maximum number of workers through it. He said that the government was seriously considering a proposal to pay full pension to the widows of the workers dying before reaching the age of superannuation. Full pension of a worker was paid to his widow in the event of death after retirement but the widow of a worker dying before attaining the age of superannuation was paid only Rs700 per month as pension instead of Rs1,400.