LAHORE, May 1: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday increased the minimum wages of labourers to Rs9,000 per month from the existing Rs7,000.

The chief minister made the announcement at a ceremony held to hand over to the industrial workers the keys of 1,292 flats free of cost.

Located on Defence Road, the flats given on the ownership basis cost the exchequer over Rs2 billion. PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was chief guest.

Mr Shahbaz Sharif alleged that the federal government did not provide electricity to this colony of labourers because it had been built by the PML-N government.

He accused the federal government of not providing welfare funds to Punjab under the 18th Amendment and usurping rights of the provinces.

He said Punjab’s economy suffered a loss of Rs300 billion a year because of loadshedding.

Export orders worth billions of rupees had been cancelled and hundreds of thousands of labourers had lost their jobs, he added.