Rs96 million allocated for child labour survey in Sindh: minister

Sindh Minister for Labour and Human Resources Ghulam Murtaza Baloch has said the provincial labour department is going to conduct a child labour survey across the province in collaboration with Unicef.

For this purpose, Rs96 millions have been allocated and once the survey is completed, the actual data would be made available to enable the government to formulate and implement policies to curb child labour.

Presiding over a meeting at his office in Karachi on Tuesday, the minister said the provincial government was fully committed to eradicating child labour from Sindh, adding that the government was also working on the capacity building of the officers of the department and strengthening of occupational safety and health centres.

He held out the assurance that inspections of factories and commercial establishments would be made more effective and transparent and no lethargic attitude would be tolerated in this regard.

Labour Secretary Rasheed Ahmed Solangi briefed the meeting that a ministerial task force had been constituted under the labour director along with prominent labour leaders and representatives from the Employers Federation of Pakistan and Chambers to implement minimum wages in the province.

He added, “District Jamshoro has been selected to become the Child Labour-Free District and in this regard the Task Force headed by the director labour Sindh along with the additional director labour Hyderabad and other officers have been constituted to ensure District Jamshoro as Child Labour-Free District. On this occasion, the labour minister expressed his satisfaction over the measures taken to eradicate child labour from the province. Labour Secretary Rasheed Ahmed Solangi also attended the meeting.