Workers’ welfare: Plan for 60 daycare centres approved

Minister says funds have been released for 33 centres

LAHORE: The Women Development Department has approved construction of 60 daycare centres across the province, Women Development Minister Hameeda Waheeduddin said on Sunday.

She said funds for 33 centres had been provided to the departments concerned under the Punjab Women Empowerment Package 2012.

She said the government had initially allocated Rs200 million for establishing daycare centres at departments affiliated with governmental institutions. Four such centres have been set up in Lahore at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, the Lahore College for Women University, the Children’s Hospital Lahore and the Pakistan Knitwear Training Institute.



The minister said empowering women was crucial for the country’s development. The provincial government, she said, had enhanced job quota for women from five per cent to 15 per cent. A 50 per cent quota has been fixed for them under the Youth Business Loan Scheme.

The Women Development Department has established hostels for working women in Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Sargodha, the minister said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2015.