SUKKUR, May 2: Federal minister for Labour and Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on Monday announced that a number of steps were being taken in the interest of labourers and workers.

Mr Syed said that some 1,000 apartments would be built in the Sukkur Workers Complex with an estimated cost of Rs170 million and later handed over to workers who would be given property rights.

Addressing a ground breaking-ceremony in the Industrial Estate here on Sunday, he said labour colonies would be built throughout the country for providing accommodation to workers, dowry grant had been increased to Rs100,000 from Rs70,000 and compensation of Rs500,000 would be paid to heirs in case of accidental death of a worker.

Only four million workers were registered with the Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) out of the 50 million labourers, he said and asked the owners of mills and factories to get their workers registered with the organisation and give them their rights.

The government, he said, was spending Rs7 million to provide higher education to 1300 children of workers. The labourers’ children would be admitted to private schools in areas where there were no public schools. They would be provided health-care at private clinics and hospitals in areas where there were no public hospitals.

Former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto set up labour courts and other institutions to protect the rights of workers, he said.

MPA Dr Nasrullah Baloch and MPA Haji Anwer Khan Mahar also spoke on the occasion.