LAHORE, July 27: A majority of industrialists are reluctant to accept the declaration forms proposed to be filed by them under the industrial policy of the Punjab government.
Distribution of declaration forms started on July 14 but not a single industrialist returned them.
District Labour Officer Javed Gill told Dawn that the forms comprised simple questions regarding implementation of labour laws and could easily be filled within five minutes.
The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry did not accept the forms for distribution among its members in the beginning. It has now accepted 200 sets of forms which can be distributed among 800 industrialists. The chamber has around 12,000 members.
The Kot Lakhpat Industries Association has so far accepted 300 forms and held a meeting to discuss its contents but informed the district labour office that it required more time for discussion with the LCCI.
The district labour office has decided to distribute the forms among industrialists in the remaining parts of the city district by the labour officers because site associations do not exist in the industrial estates on Multan Road, Raiwind Road and elsewhere. The labour officers have been directed to distribute forms among the owners of registered as well as unregistered industrial units in the areas under their jurisdiction.
The district labour officer said there was confusion about the exact number of industrial units in the city. His office had 863 industrial units registered under the Factories Act but the actual number covered by the provisions of the act was around 1,200 because a sizable number of units had not been registered. The industries department estimated the number at around 10,000 whereas Wapda had given 30,000 industrial connections in the city.
Former district labour officer Syed Sakhawat Shah was of the view that Wapda, industrial and labour departments differed on the number of industrial units because each defined a unit in a different manner. Wapda and industries department defined any unit producing anything as an industry without taking the number of workers and nature of process into account whereas the labour department considered only a unit employing 10 or more workers and using a manufacturing process as an industry. The Punjab chief minister, on the other hand, proposed filing of declaration forms by the managements of units employing 50 or more workers. Mr Shah said only an irreversible production process was considered a manufacturing process under the Factories Act. For example production of ice could not be described as a manufacturing process because the ice could melt into water.
The number of industrial units registered with the labour department was much less because it considered only the units employing a manufacturing process as industries.
All the 5,200 industrial units registered under Factories Act in the Punjab and those employed 50 or more workers are required to file declarations in compliance with labour laws instead of facilitating labour inspections under the new industrial policy. The factory managements are required to return the duly filled forms within a month after receipt.
The Punjab labour department has already stopped inspections of the factories since June 24 after the announcement of new industrial policy by the chief minister.
The factory managements are required to declare the nature of their manufacturing process along with the details of the workers employed. They are also required to declare whether or not they have issued appointment letters to the workers and paying overtime, bonus and gratuity to them besides giving provident fund facility in accordance with the provisions of the law.
They are also required to declare whether or not they are allowing annual leave and holidays to the workers and maternity leave to the female employees and paying the prescribed minimum wages to all categories of workers. The are required to provide information on health and safety measures as well.
The managements of the factories employing 50 or more workers have to declare whether or not all the workers have been insured under group insurance scheme and whether or not canteen and fair price shop facilities have been set up on the factory premises.
The factory owners will not only file the forms but also display them at the factory gates for a reasonable period for the information of workers and the public. Those filing wrong declarations will be liable to prosecution under the provisions of the labour laws.
The labour department will computerize the data and select 5 per cent factories for inspection through a computerized draw every year. It will not conduct routine annual inspections of the remaining factories. It will, however, arrange inspections of the factories on receiving complaints of violation of labour laws.