Punjab Minister for Mines and Minerals Ibrahim Hassan Murad stressed the need of imparting skills and education to labourers to meet their demand abroad.
Presiding over a review meeting on the welfare of the mine workers and other measures in his camp office, the minister called for the formation of an advisory board of all departments relating to mining. He said accident ratio should be brought to zero percent and the safety of mine workers should be ensured. He stressed imparting education and skills to workers as the demand of Pakistani labour is very high worldwide. The meeting discussed the establishment of joint help line of MLWC and CIM, steps and strategies to get real time images of underground mines on monthly basis, amendments to Mines Act 1923, introducing e-challan, list of pending challans, mines rescue stations online monitoring, increasing student seats in mining as well as survey diplomas, calls received with location at mines rescue stations during last five years, trend of mining accidents for last 10 years, target of senior research officer for next two months, a detailed review of target of collection of samples by officers, establishment of mining school/institute in district Khushab, recruitment to key posts, strict action against lease holders for repeated violations, online inspection portal and other issues. During the briefing, the minister was informed that the establishment of joint help line, action plan with PITB has entered the final stages for the formal launch of a helpline 1325 on January 11. On the occasion, the minister said it would be much better to go to the field itself than to rely on pictures for the monitoring of mines. He directed that all mine owners should be registered and work online by leveraging technology to adapt to modern requirements so as to save time and get the best and transparent results.
