Child rights: ‘District committees will help eliminate child labour’

Chief minister says children working at kilns to be enrolled at schools


Our Correspondent January 04, 2016
Chief minister says children working at kilns to be enrolled at schools. PHOTO: SHAHBAZ MALIK

LAHORE:


Special committees would be formed at district level for the elimination of child labour at brick kilns, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Monday.


“Children working at kilns will be enrolled at schools and provided a stipend,” the chief minister said while chairing a meeting of a steering committee for the elimination of child labour at brick kilns.

The meeting decided that an ordinance be issued soon to make effective the legal framework for the elimination of child labour at brick kilns.

The chief minister said the DCOs and DPOs would monitor the performance of district committees that would meet weekly. The DCOs and DPOs would personally inspect brick kilns, he said.

Sharif directed the industries secretary to submit a report within a week on the registration of brick kilns.

He called for making boarding and lodging arrangements for the children to be enrolled at schools.

The chief minister ordered that a programme be devised to provide healthcare services to the children. Provincial Ministers Rana Sanaullah, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar and Rana Mashhood Ahmed, government’s spokesman Zaeem Hussain Qadri, Child Protection Bureau Chairperson Saba Sadiq and Chief Secretary Khizar Hayat Gondal attended the meeting.

National Action Plan

“Effective measures are being taken under the National Action Plan to eradicate terrorism, extremism and sectarianism,” the chief minister said.

He chaired a meeting that reviewed the security situation across the province.

Sharif said laws to curb terrorism had been made more effective. He said the steps taken under the National Action Plan were yielding good results. “There is no room for terrorism, extremism, intolerance and religious hatred in Quaid-i-Azam’s Pakistan. We will spare no effort to defeat the terrorists and their facilitators,” Sharif said.

The chief minister ordered that security arrangements be further improved. He asked police to work with dedication to fight criminals.

Rana Sanaullah, Chief Minister’s Special Assistant Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Khizar Hayat Gondal and IGP Mushtaq Sukhera attended the meeting.

Balochistan MNA meets CM

“There is a great need for unity and solidarity in the present circumstances and collective efforts should be made for the country’s progress,” the chief minister said during a meeting with Mir Dostan Khan Domki, an MNA from Balochistan.

“The people of Balochistan are patriotic and hardworking. The country depends on them for development,” Sharif said. He said that students from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit- Baltistan had also been included in educational programmes launched by the Punjab government. “This has helped promoted national solidarity and brotherhood.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2016.

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