HYDERABAD: Sindh Minister for Labour and Human Resources Ghulam Murtaza Baloch has clarified that Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zard­ari’s journey via train to Larkana is not a “train march” as it is being dubbed.

Bilawal had to go to Larkana to attend death anniversary of his grandfather and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and he chose to travel by train as he could not go by air because of closure of Sukkur airport, he said while talking to media persons here on Wednesday.

He described National Account­a­­bility Ordinance as “black law” and said it had been made by the regime of retired Gen Pervez Musharraf to take vindictive actions against political rivals.

He said that National Account­ability Bureau officials were pestering all people in general and Sindh government functionaries in particular who had made some money with hard work. Politicians were only being blamed for corruption, he said.

The minister slammed federal ministers and said they were only fond of attacking opponents.

“We are carrying out a child survey throughout the country in collaboration with Unicef and after completing it, correct figure of child labour will be assessed,” he said.

He expressed satisfaction over quality of education being impar­ted in schools run by labour depar­tment and said he was striving hard to provide more facilities to workers’ children.

He said that there were 650,000 workers registered with the labour department while there were over five million workers only in Karachi. The department was trying to raise registration of workers to over one million during this year, he said, adding the system was being computerised and would soon be linked with Nadra.

He said that he was making efforts to pay pension to workers and improve the pension system. Sindh was the only province where more laws about labourers had been made and minimum monthly wage had been fixed at Rs16,200. The officials were implementing it by visiting factories, he said.

He said that it was his responsibility to make surprise visits and he kept visiting different sites frequently to gain firsthand information about schools and hospitals for workers.

He admitted that workers were facing multiple problems but Sindh government and labour department were making serious efforts to improve their condition and give them their rights.

Later, he visited workers’ intermediate girls and boys college and model school and listened to problems being faced by teachers and students.

The minister assured them of resolving their issues and asked officials concerned to end shortage of teachers and facilities.

He urged students to work hard and study wholeheartedly so that they could play a positive role in developing and serving the country in a better manner. He planted saplings in the courtyards of the educational institutions.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2019