KARACHI, May 18: Speakers at a pre-budget seminar on Sunday urged the government to come out with a worker-friendly budget offering incentives and subsidies to provide relief to the common man badly affected by sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities.

The seminar was organised by the National Labour Federation (NLF), Karachi Zone.

Noted economist Dr Shahid Hassan Siddiqui observed that the poor and downtrodden were living in abject poverty, which had made their lives miserable. “The situation is aggravating with each passing day,” he said, adding that it was also unfortunate that poor people were being made to pay all taxes but those from the upper class were safely evading the taxes.

“Important and profit-making institutions of the country have been disposed of at throw-away prices in the name of privatization only to cause irreparable losses to the country. It seems that the era of East India Company has returned in Pakistan,” he added.

He observed that the country was being driven towards an economic collapse, pointing out that 130 million people lived in poverty and 70 million of them did not get even proper nutrition. He proposed that Rs1,500 billion tax collection target should be set in the next budget and a transparent tax system with a mechanism to check tax evasion be introduced and implemented.

President of the Sindh NLF Rana Mehmood Ali Khan called for an immediate halt to the privatisation of profit-making institutions, and said urgent steps must be taken to stop to the spiraling price hike.

NLF city chief Khalid Khan called for a special package to be announced in the upcoming budget for workers and women, besides incentives like medical cover, social security and pension for every worker.

General Secretary of the Pakistan Steel Labour Union Zaffar Khan said no country could make progress without ensuring essential incentives to workers. He called for the abolition of agreements for the privatisation of major institutions like the KESC, PTCL, Pakistan Steel, etc in order to put the country back on the road to progress.

Secretary of the Peoples Labor Union, KWSB, Mohsin Raza demanded inclusion of NGOs’ representatives in trade unions, and stressed that workers should fight for their rights like the lawyers did in the recent months.

Chairman of the KESC Labour Union Ikhlaq Khan warned of a “civil war-like situation” in the country if reasonable pay-raise and incentives were not offered to workers in the upcoming budget.

General Secretary of the PTCL Workers Pak Union Shahid Ayub said that the government must fulfill the promise that it would announce a worker-friendly budget.

Acting Amir of Jamaat-i-Islami, Karachi, Birjees Ahmed said another “inflation tsunami” was feared to hit the people of Pakistan with the unveiling of the upcoming budget. “Workers across the country must forge unity in their rank and file and launch a vigorous struggle for their rights, instead of lamenting their fate,” he added.

The JI leader said the country could not make progress until it stopped getting huge loans from international financial institutions and foreign concerns. He was of the view that bringing an improvement in workers’ quality of life was possible only when the country was transformed into a truly welfare state on Islamic lines.—PPI