HARIPUR, Sept 7: The Labour Department of Haripur has submitted challans against 22 industrial concerns of Hattar Industrial Estate for not maintaining hygiene of workers, official sources told Dawn here on Monday.

The sources at the office of Deputy Director of Labour, Haripur, said that during a routine visit to different industries of Hattar the labour inspector found a number of factory workers unimmunized against cholera disease by employers.

The sources said that many of the workers were found without hygiene cards while the rest had been carrying no entry of vaccinations for the last several months. The labour inspector filled challans with the labour court, Haripur, against at least 22 industries for violating labour laws under the Factories Act, 1934.

Last month there were 24 industries which were fined for the same reasons. Under the labour laws the factory owners are required to get their workers vaccinated against common epidemics from Social Security health outlets every year.

However, it was observed that the factory owners of Hattar do not only disallow their workers to avail facilities provided to them by the government but also deprive scores of workers of the right of social security cover.

There are over 12000 men and women working as industrial workers at Hattar and, according to an estimate by an NGO, scores of blue colour workers are not allowed to benefit from the social security system as these workers are not given social security cards. Though in some industries the law is being implemented, social security cards are not given to workers for fear of litigation against industrialists.