HYDERABAD, Jan 16: The District Labour Committee on Wednesday constituted a joint District Vigilance Committee to ensure the implementation of labour laws in commercial and industrial organizations of the district.

The decision, to form the vigilance committee, comprising representatives of the District Council, labour unions and the Sindh Labour Department, was taken at a meeting presided over by the district Nazim, Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman.

Speaking on th occasion, the district Nazim highlighted the priorities of the government, saying that elimination of child labour, issuance of appointment letters to workers and enforcement of minimum wage of Rs2,500 to workers were among the top priorities of the district government.

He said that the vigilance committee had been assigned to identify the bottlenecks and propose remedial measures to protect the rights of the workers.

He said that the district government was facing difficulties in implementation of labour policies because the labour department has not been fully devolved.

The meeting recommended that all powers — except for the registration of workers’ unions — be devolved to the district government.

Emphasizing upon officers of the conciliation wing to regularly visit factories, the district Nazim said that there was a need to solve workers’ problems to avoid unnecessary litigation.

Under the new law, the meeting was informed, private schools and hospitals would be included in the commercial list and would be charged for the workers’ welfare schemes.

The district Nazim expressed his dissatisfaction over the performance of the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI) and demanded of the competent authority to ensure due representation of interior Sindh on its governing body.

A labour representative informed the meeting that 50 per cent workers were being deprived of their right of registration and benefits from SESSI.

The district Nazim also constituted a separate committee for conducting a survey to point out irregularities on the part of SESSI and concerned commercial and industrial organizations.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the registration fee of shops, the district Nazim asked the EDO (community development), Hyderabad, to prepare proposals for increasing the same to Rs500 or Rs1,000 per shop.

In the meantime, the District Coordination Officer (DCO), Hyderabad, Mir Hussain Ali, stressed upon the officials of labour department, Employees Old-age Benefit Institution (EOBI), SESSI and the Workers’ Welfare Board to cooperate for the resolution of the workers problems.

The DCO said that the menace of middlemen in these institutions should be done away with.

The chairman of the district council’s labour committee, Rana Mehmood Ali, presented the problems of workers.