ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: The National Assembly standing committee on labour, manpower and overseas Pakistani has asked the public-sector companies to pay their contribution regularly to the Employees Old Age Benefit Institute.

The committee meeting, which was presided over by MNA Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain, observed that some public-sector companies had not been paying the EOBI contribution regularly and an amount of Rs293.5 million was outstanding against them.

The committee also directed the Employees Old Age Benefit Institute (EOBI) to accelerate the recovery campaign. It also directed the EOBI to contact union council nazims and district governments to collect information about workers of private industrial and commercial establishments across the country, so that registration of the workers could be extended.

The committee asked the EOBI to take all possible steps to ensure the registration of workers. It also recommended for restoration of the EOBI scheme and matching grant. The committee asked the government to enhance the pension of widows from Rs750 to Rs1,000.

Earlier, the EOBI chairman briefed the committee about the objectives, functions and organizational setup of the institute. He informed the committee that the core objective of the EOBI was to provide benefits in terms of pension to the workers of private industrial and commercial establishments across the country.

He said total contribution collected by the EOBI since its inception till June 2004 was Rs26.24 billion, adding that the amount disbursed as pension and old age grant was Rs11.99 billion.

The committee deferred the Industrial Relation (amendment) Bill 2004 tabled by the Chaudhry Manzoor and other members of the National Assembly on the request of the Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistan.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Mohammad Farhan Latif, Dr Rozina Tufail, Shamim Akhtar, Sardar Jahan Yousaf, Maulana Khalilur Rehman, Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmad, Zamurad Khan, Syed Nasib Ali Shah, Shabbir Ahmed Khan and Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan Nasir.