HYDERABAD, Nov 15: The district council on Wednesday urged the district and provincial governments to ensure implementation of labour laws in factories because employees do not give their workers any incentive and hire them on contract.

A resolution tabled by Rozina Fasahat cited Punjab where labourers’ minimum wage was Rs5,000 and called for raise in salaries of factory workers in Sindh who got only Rs3,300 per month.

Nasir Baloch said that an unholy alliance between factory owners and contractors, which ensured the mill owner got workers on minimum wages was depriving labourers of their rights.

He criticised the officials of labour department for living in palace like homes and said no one was ready ask them how were they able to build such empires with meagre salary.

He said that labour officials turned a blind eye towards factories which did not enforce labour laws after getting their pound of flesh. The union leaders who owned four to five vehicles were equally responsible for their colleague’s hardships, he charged.Muanwar Zai pointed out that children who should otherwise seek education were compelled to work in factories on minimum wages because of poverty.

Malik Rafiq and Mehboob Abro said that HDA was paying only Rs1,100 a month to sweepers while taluka municipal administrations (TMAs) were paying Rs4,000 to sanitary workers and said that the district government should take up the issue with provincial government to rescue under-paid workers.

Dr. Arif Razmi and Ghulam Rasool Samoon called for proper planning in each department for making sufficient funds available for workers' welfare and implementation of labour laws.

Citing an example they said that Wasa’s expenses stood at Rs35 million while its recovery was just Rs10 million, which made it impossible for the agency to pay good wages to its workers.

The resolution was referred to community development department (CDD) after Q. Hakim proposed that CDD could play an important role in this regard. Under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) it could ensure check and balance in factories and mills, he said.

The council passed resolutions put forward by Nasir Baloch and Zahida Memon, seeking raise in council members' honourarium. They said that Rs10,000 should be paid to union council nazims instead of Rs3,000 because Karachi was paying Rs10,000 to its nazims.

Convenor Zafar Ali Rajput asked the council officer to issue a reminder to the concerned police officers to know how much progress had been made on the ban on sale of narcotics, mainpuri and gutka.

Mrs. Farhat Khan's resolution about installation of traffic signals was referred to concerned taluka municipal administration. She stated that non-existence of signals caused serious problems to pedestrians in congested localities where traffic policemen were not deployed.