LAHORE: The minimum wage law is being widely violated by industrial units across Punjab, admits the labour department -- the competent authority for ensuring implementation on the law.

“There’s not a single factory in the province that is paying its workers under the minimum wages law,” the Punjab Assembly was told by Labour Minister Ansar Majeed here on Friday.

Responding to a query by PML-N’s Hina Parvez Butt, the minister said the government could not eliminate by force corruption pertaining to the connivance between the department officials and industrialists.

As part of documenting the payment of wages, he said, the government is planning to legislate on payments to workers through mobile accounts, as no action could be taken against the administration of an industrial unit for want of factory data.

Answering Tahir Pervaiz’s question, the minister said so far 1.1 million industrial workers were registered with the department and they were trying to take the figure to two million, but factory owners were not cooperating.

He told PPP’s Syed Hassan Murtaza that by 2018, the workers’ registration should have reached three million, but due to failing of government institutions, the target could not be achieved. He said the department was working on an online solution to the issue but declined to give details of the initiative.

Replying to another query, he said that health cards were being issued to retired workers as well.

He denied the impression that the department did not take questions raised by the lawmakers seriously and recalled that various vacancies in the department had been filled when legislators had pointed out the issue. Though there were weaknesses and shortcomings in the working of the department, he said, but these were partly because of weakening of institutions and the government was working to strengthen its agencies.

Mr Majeed told MPA Chaudhry Akhtar Ali that the post of labour commissioner was in Grade 20 and the services and general administration department deputed some officers from the federal or provincial service to the post.

Meanwhile, Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi formally inaugurated a mosque built on the assembly premises. Opposition leader Hamza Shahbaz and leaders of other parliamentary parties were also present.

Talking to the media, the speaker said that people should talk about tolerance, love and religious harmony at worship places.

He said that both the treasury and opposition benches were cooperating for public interest legislation. Besides improving the working of existing standing committees, more of such bodies were also being set up to submit recommendations to the government for the welfare of the people.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020