KARACHI, Jan 19: The government has decided to retrench about 3,750 workers of the Karachi Dock Labour Board (KDLB) by offering them early voluntary retirement with the assistance of the World Bank, official sources said here on Friday.

In the second phase those who did not avail the offer would be subjected to medical screening and those found unfit for dock labour would be removed from the roster, after payment of their legal dues, the sources said.

It is learnt that in case if all the workers were not retrenched through such measures then the KDLB would be abolished after the remaining workers were paid their normal legal dues.

The decision had been taken in line with the government’s policy of boosting national trade and commerce by reducing the cost of doing business in the country under the National Trade Corridor Implementation Programme.

The business community has welcomed the decision since after mechanisation and automation the workers had been rendered redundant and port users had to pay unnecessary price to sustain the workers in the form of a cess paid on all cargo handled at the Karachi Port.It is said that the place where they are actually needed is the bagged cargo, and in this area their input is extremely poor, with the result that rice and cement exports are suffering badly.

It was also learnt that the whole exercise would be completed by end of March.