LAHORE: In Punjab, home to over 120 million people, the Punjab Employees Social Security Institution (PESSI) reports that out of 1.2 million registered workers, only around 740,000 have received Maryam Nawaz Ration Cards so far.

Under the Chief Minister’s Ramazan Nigehban Package, the PESSI aims to cover at least one million workers, out of four million vulnerable population of the province, becoming 25 percent stakeholder in the package.

The Punjab government is offering Rs10,000 financial assistance to the vulnerable population through digital apps, while the PESSI that was offering Rs3,000 per month through ration cards has increased the package and added Rs7,000 to the amount.

“The PESSI aims to distribute Rs10,000, during Ramazan, to some one million workers each (25pc of total beneficiaries), while it is contributing Rs4.4 billion, of total Rs8.8 billion Ramazan Nigehban Package,” PESSI Commissioner Zulfiqar Ali told Dawn on Sunday.

PESSI targets at least 1m workers to be covered under CM’s Ramazan Nigehban Package

Mr Ali says the institution has reached its one million registered workers digitally and transferred them the ration card plus Ramazan package assistance. He says some 850,000 workers have received the financial assistance so far, while the remaining 150,000 workers will get it in a day or two. “As new ration cards’ printing is taking time, the cards will reach the workers as soon as they are available,” Mr Ali says, adding that the institution managed to open accounts of some 600,000 workers during the past couple of months.

The commissioner, however, did not explain the fate of the remaining 200,000 registered workers – of the total 1.2 million.

Labour leaders, however, dispute the PESSI claim of distributing the ration cards among some 740,000 workers and insist that only 300,000 cards had been given to workers, and that too mainly in Lahore and Faisalabad. They also say the PESSI could not increase its base of registered workers in the province with the larges population in the country.

“The reports from across the province suggest that the ration card reached only some 300,000 workers,” PTI Labour Wing president Rana Abdul Sammi says, disputing the PESSI commissioner’s claim.

Mr Sammi says the PTI government had registered 1.2m workers way back in 2017-18, while this number had not increased during the past eight years. As per record and advertisements in newspapers published during the PTI government, he says, some 700,000 registered workers were given financial assistance through the then “Mazdoor Card” and biometric verification.

“There are at least 15m workers in the province who need to be registered and assisted,” Mr Sammi asserted.

GAZETTE NOTIFICATION: Meanwhile, the Punjab government has gazette notified fixation of the monthly wage ceiling equivalent to the minimum wage of Rs40,000 per month for the payment of contribution as envisaged under Section 2(8)(f) and 20 of the Provincial Employees’ Social Security Ordinance 1965.

The gazette notification issued by the Punjab labour, human and resource department has created unrest amongst the registered workers in the province as they fear that the monthly contribution would be stopped for those currently drawing more than Rs40,000 salary.

Acknowledging that those drawing salaries above the minimum wage go out of the ambit of the definition of “worker”, PESSI Commissioner, however, shunned the apprehension, stating that as per the Social Security Ordinance, “Once covered – always covered”.

“The workers’ contribution to social security will continue, even if a registered worker is drawing much higher salary than the minimum wage,” he adds.

Though the PTI Labour Wing president also acknowledges the ordinance’s provision, he fears the companies/factories could “misuse” the gazette notification and stop deducting contribution from salaries of the workers who are getting paid beyond the minimum wage.

Though the ordinance protects workers, Mr Sammi says, the rules framed thereafter suggest that the workers who fail to contribute for consecutive three months and up to 18 months, would be denied specific welfare facilities, including medical cover, cash benefits, death grant, etc through the Workers’ Welfare Fund.

Apprehending that thousands of workers would be affected by the gazette notification, he appealed to the labour leaders, unions, federations and confederations to raise their voice and ensure that every worker gets registered and submits social security contribution.

He also urged the Punjab government to review the notification and demanded that the upper cap limit be set at Rs75,000.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2026