HYDERABAD, March 1: A two-day conference of Sindh peasants workers and fishermen which concluded at the press club here on Wednesday constituted a 15-member committee to chalk out a plan for protecting the rights of workers, peasants and fishermen.

The conference asked the government to appoint the Sindh Rural Development Authority for the rehabilitation of rural workers and ensuring all facilities to them.

The conference also demanded that the working of government schools and hospitals should be improved and residents of kutchi abadis should be given proprietary rights.

The conference urged the government to ensure the release of 35MAF water downstream Kotri to rehabilitate the Indus Delta and to completely ban deep sea trawlers and small nets for catching fish.

It demanded that fishermen should be given right to catch fish throughout South Asian waters without any fear of arrest.

It called for registration of all industrial and commercial enterprises and demanded of the government to award exemplary punishment to corrupt officials and extortionists.

It demanded that the workers should be ensured security of service and exploitation of female workers should be stopped forthwith.

The conference urged the government to recover the kidnapped family members of Mannu Bheel and Reejo Odh and ensure payment to 1,844 employees of the defunct SRTC in accordance with the written agreement signed between the former workers’ union and the Sindh government.

Later, speaking at a press conference at the press club, Sohail Raza (Textile Workers Union), Ms Ghulam Fatima (Kiln Workers Union), Ms Tahira Ali, (Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum), Saeed Baloch (Transport Workers Union), and Karamat Ali of PILER said that the poor haris and industrial workers were being forced to work for over 12 hours a day without payment of adequate wages.

They said that the public transport owners right from rickshaw driver to bus owner could not ply their vehicles without paying bribe to the government functionaries and extortion to extortionist elements.