Schemes under WWF come to halt as ministry chokes funds

ISLAMABAD: All the development schemes under Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) have come to a halt as ministry of finance has not released funds for the last nine months, an official said on Friday.

“Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected over Rs162 billion in taxes from over half a million registered industrial workers but the ministry is holding the funds back,” a source in Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development told Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

The source said the construction work of labour complex at Zone-V near Islamabad Expressway had stopped due to shortage of funds.

He added that situation in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan was no different as development schemes in these provinces were also bearing the brunt of unavailability of funds.

The source feared that the future of workers children’s was at stake as most of them were getting education from the different universities and colleges on scholarships provided by the WWF.

To question, he said the finance division was releasing only the salaries of WWF staff. The WWF was established under Workers Welfare Fund Ordinance, 1971 for providing low cost housing and other amenities to the industrial workers.