KARACHI, Dec 1: Federal minister for labour Omer Asghar Khan said on Saturday that a new labour policy was being formulated with special emphasis on reducing number of existing labour laws, regulations and ordinances from 70 to about six.

“Most of laws and regulations in force are in duplicity creating complexity for government, working class and the employers. Curtailing the number of such laws will not affect the rights of workers, instead it will protect them with the removal of ambiguity in the labour laws,” he said while talking informally to PPI at a memorial gathering for late Syed Shabir Ahmed Shah, former member National Assembly and a renowned politician, last evening. The gathering was organized by Nisar Ahmed Memon, President, The Reformers.

The new labour policy would also provide for devolution of power at the grass-root level, as the district governments would be delegated powers to protect the rights of working class, he said.

Omer Asghar said that in order to make the district governments financially sound for carrying out development works, funds sought from international donors would also be diverted to them besides granting substantial amounts from the Khushhal Pakistan Programme.

When asked if there would be any check on Nazims and other elected representatives for their possible involvement in corruption, he said there was no separate system in this respect. However, the National Accountability Bureau, being a permanent institution, would take cognizance of such things.

To a query about establishment of office of District Ombudsman, who according to a government plan will not be independent of the executive, the minister said the Provincial Ombudsman of Sindh had rightly opposed the idea. “We are also of the opinion that it would not deliver the goods and have suggested to make them independent of the executive, putting them under the provincial Ombudsman,” he said.

Earlier, former caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Makhdoom Khalique-u-Zaman, Syed Qurban Ali Shah, Syed Bashir Ahmed Shah and other politicians addressing the gathering paid rich tributes to late Shabir Ahmed Shah.

Nisar Ahmed Memon announced a scholarship in the name of late Shabir Ahmed Shah for a deserving intermediate student of village Mehrabpur.

Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada, Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah, Ghous Bux Mahar, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Nazim F. Haji and other politicians and intellectuals attended the memorial gathering.—PPI