Staff Reporter
Peshawar
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Labour and Culture Shaukat Yousafzai has said that the Labour Department has its own 62 hospitals and 45 schools in the province where labourers and their families can receive free medical treatment and free education. He said that 2056 flats were being constructed in Regi Lalma to provide accommodation to the labourers while practical steps have been taken to collect data of laborers in the province.
He said that Rs. 241 million has been kept for child labour survey in the province. Shaukat Yousafzai expressed these views here on the occasion of distributing scholarships worth Rs. 5 crores 4 lacs in various educational institutions for free education of children of labourers. Secretary Labour Kamran Rehman was also present on the occasion.
The Provincial Minister said that scholarships worth about Rs. 60 crore could be distributed among the children of laborers in the province but due to non availability of proper data of labourers, workers are deprived of these benefits and unfortunately, previous governments did not pay attention to collect data. At present, 51,000 workers are registered with ESSI and it will be taken up to 90,000.
Shaukat Yousafzai said that after registration with EOBI and ESSI, labourers would be able to avail free treatment and education as well as other benefits and apart from scholarships, Rs. 71 lac has also been allocated as pocket money for children of registered labourers. He said that today, Rs 5 crore scholarships are being given only to registered laborers.
He said that efforts were being made to bring the mines and minerals workers under the purview of the Labour department. The minister said that death grant for registered labourers has been increased from Rs 3 lac to Rs 7 lac and the marriage grant to Rs 200,000.
