Sindh Minister for Information & Archives and Labour Saeed Ghani has said that all imperative measures were being adopted to eliminate past irregularities in providing accommodation to the workers and in this regard amendments were also being considered in the allotment policy of Sindh Workers Welfare Board (SWWB).
Presiding over the 17th Governing Board meeting of Sindh Workers Welfare Board held here in his office on Tuesday, Saeed Ghani said that the incumbent government’s top priority was to spend the workers’ money for their welfare and in addition to that the suggestions of the workers must be given importance while formulating any policy. He said that the data of the employees in the EOBI was authentic and reliable, so the use of this data should be made mandatory in all the welfare work of the workers.
During the meeting, some members of the governing body expressed their concerns over the delay in receiving the minutes of the meeting, to which the Provincial directed that the minutes of the current meeting be reached to all members within three days. He said that all members of the governing body should study the minutes thoroughly before the next meeting so that they can express their concerns at the next meeting. He said that before finalizing any policy, the opinion of all the members of the governing body would be considered.
Later, while following the agenda of the meeting, after consultation with all the members of the governing body on the amendments to the Workers Welfare Fund 2014 Act, all members agreed to submit their suggestions to finalize the amendments in the next governing body meeting. The meeting also deliberated on the possible amendments in the laws pertaining to the allotment policy of Workers Welfare Board Sindh.
Saeed Ghani said that in the past, there had been allegations levelled against Union, Departments and Owners in providing housing to workers, which had given more importance to the element of corruption than transparency. Minister for Labor said that in order to eliminate corruption completely effective reforms in allotment policy were the need of the hour.
He said that the Sindh government was trying its best to give the workers their legitimate rights by ensuring that there was no corruption committed in the provision of flats to them for their accommodation. He said that we should had no hesitation in admitting that in the past, there was no transparency in the balloting of flats and those responsible for it were all part of it. He said that now the allotment policy had been amended to give the workers their legitimate rights.
According to the proposed amendments in the policy the flats would be provided to the workers of the factories within a radius of ten kilometers in proportion to their seniority in the factory and their seniority would be verified by the factory owner. The worker would then be verified with data from the EOBI and Sindh Employees Social Security Institution, after which the flat would be provided on payment of 25% as per law.—INP
