ISLAMABAD, March 16: The ministry of labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis has earmarked Rs5 billion for the welfare of workers around the country. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Federal Minister for Labour and Manpower Ghulam Sarwar Khan said besides the grant of Rs2,849.885 million for the year 2005-06, an additional amount of Rs2,069.308 million will be provided for workers’ welfare in all the four provinces.

The decision to this effect was taken at a governing body meeting of the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) with the federal minister in the chair. Federal secretary labour Malik Asif Hayat, provincial labour secretaries, representatives of the employees as well as employers also attended the meeting.

Of the additional Rs2,069.308 million, Punjab will get Rs929.900 million, Sindh Rs834.086 million, NWFP Rs139.722 million and Balochistan Rs165.600 million.

In Punjab, the minister said, the ministry had planned labour complexes which besides solving residential problems will also provide health, education and recreational facilities.

These labour complexes would be built in Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan and Lahore, for which land has been acquired.

The ministry has provided Rs147 million to the Punjab Social Security to procure medical equipment and also approved construction of a labour colony at defence road in Lahore.

Under the WWF, a national institute of kidney centre comprising 250 beds has been completed in Lahore.

In Sindh, labour complexes will be built near northern bypass in Karachi; Hyderabad and Kotri for which land has already been bought. Moreover, funds have been provided for 60 development schemes in Sindh.

For NWFP, the meeting approved funding for a kidney centre and 13 development schemes. The NWFP welfare board was directed to allocate land for the construction of labour complexes.

In Balochistan, a housing colony comprising 150 units has been handed over to the provincial workers welfare fund, whereas 100 flats will be constructed at Gwadar.

Similarly, Balochistan welfare board has been asked to prepare PC-1 for the construction of labour complexes in the province.

Besides development schemes, financial help is provided to workers like death and marriage grants, scholarships at school, college and university level. Until now, over 200,000 workers have benefited from the scheme.