LAHORE (Staff Report) – The Country Director of International Labour Organization (ILO) in Pakistan Ingrid Christensen has lauded the Punjab government for its welfare oriented projects especially for the labour community, said a press release issued here on Friday.
Provincial Minister for Labour and Human Resource, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar held a courtesy meeting with Christensen and expressed gratitude for technical assistance of ILO in elimination of child and bonded labour and promotion of Decent Work in the province.
Christensen hails Punjab government for elimination of child labour, enrollment of children of brick kiln workers in government schools and provision of free education, books, uniforms, shoes, stationary and other facilities along with monthly stipends.
She expressed satisfaction on the status of implementation of labour laws linked with ILO Conventions in Punjab and said that province has taken lead from other provinces of the country in providing facilities to labour community.
She further said that there is a need to formulate a Tripartite Forum, involving all the four provinces of the country, sustainable policy making process for labor class.
The Country Head was accompanied by National Project Coordinator ILO Mian Muhammad Binyamin and Programme Officer Saghir Bukhari.
Sarwar informed the delegation that Punjab government, to ensure child and bonded labour free kilns, will support brick kiln owners to install mechanical kilns in clusters, replacing orthodox system, providing soft loans and technical assistance to them.
He the efforts of ILO, European Union and other donor agencies for holding successful South Asia Labour Conference-2014 in Lahore where all stakeholders, not only from Pakistan but also from this whole region fully participated and presented valuable suggestions for improvement of labour sector.
