ISLAMABAD, March 7: The Senate Standing Committee on Labour and Manpower has stressed the need for proper evaluation of the development projects carried out by the Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI).

The committee, which met here on Monday under the chairmanship of Senator Naeem Hussain Chattha, observed that a projects monitoring mechanism must be evolved to ensure proper utilization of the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) as well as transparency. This observation was made by the committee while reviewing the performance of the institute.

Ministry of Labour and Manpower secretary and EOBI chairman briefed the committee on the performance of the institute. The committee was informed that the institute was established in 1976 with the objective of providing monitory benefits of pension to the workers of private industrial and commercial establishments.

The EOBI chairman said a number of administrative and management measures had been taken to improve operational efficiency of the institution. The committee was told that 53,905 employers had been registered since July 1976, while the number of registered employees had gone up to 2,192,227.

The committee was told that Rs23.37 billion had been collected as a contribution towards the WWF, whereas Rs1,324.8 million was disbursed as pension/old age grant among the workers.

It was stated that universal self-assessment scheme based on flat rate of contribution and benefits, and extension of EOBI benefits to overseas Pakistanis were under consideration of the government.

In reply to a question, the committee was informed that as the public sector companies were not paying their contribution regularly, the campaign for recovery was accelerated with the result that more than 56 per cent arrears had been recovered.

The meeting was further told that Rs1,036 millions was embezzled in a repo deal case and that the institution had recovered assets worth Rs893.4 million through the National Accountability Bureau. The balance amount is recoverable from the absconders.

The chairman said the committee would work impartially with the sole objective of mitigating the difficulties of the people and resolution of poor workers' grievances.

The meeting was also attended by senators Mohammad Naseer Mengal, Tahir Iqbal, Mohammad Sarwar Khan Kakar, Enver Baig, Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan and Sahibzada Khalid Jan. Senior officials of the labour ministry and EOBI were also present.