KARACHI: Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani has said that the government has taken practical steps to put into action the 2008 manifesto of the late Benazir Bhutto.

The minister was addressing a special discussion at the signing ceremony of the Benazir Bhutto Mazdoor Card Agreement between the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (Sessi) and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) at Sessi headquarters on Thursday.

“Sindh is the only province which has made 16 revolutionary laws in the labour department after the 18th Amendment and now we have entered into an agreement with Nadra for the ‘Benazir Bhutto Mazdoor Card’ to provide more facilities to workers and labourers,” he said.

The first Benazir Bhutto Mazdoor Card will be issued on January 1, 2021, and in the first phase, 625,000 smart cards will be made for those workers and labourers whose manual cards are currently under Sessi. “I hope in the next phase we will expand its scope to five million labourers,” he added.

The agreement was signed by Sessi commissioner Ishaq Mehr and Nadra project director Anjum Khan Durrani.

The minister said after the 18th Amendment, Sindh had enacted more legislation for welfare of workers.

He said that under the project, they want to bring all labourers into the network, even those who do not work in a factory or mill, but do their own work and fall into the category of labourer.

“I estimate that we will be able to provide such smart cards to more than five million workers in the province,” he said.

He said this project was being completed with full confidence of all employers.

He said more such projects were also being worked on, under which Sessi, Workers Welfare Board, EOBI and Mines Workers Organisation would all be brought under one umbrella and a law would be enacted to bring them all together.

Nadra chairman Usman Yousuf Mobin said they would issue a “modern and flawless” smart card which would help workers.

“Through this smart card, we will be able to complete the process of computerised registration of workers and their children,” he said.

Labour secretary Rashid Solangi said that his department and Sessi had crossed a milestone, which would be an example in the history of the country.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2020