Nearly 4,700 labourers, registered with the Sindh Workers Welfare Board, in Hyderabad and Sukkur are still awaiting a payment of Rs70,000 each, as a dowry grant for their daughters’ marriage.
They said that they would be forced to protest if applicants were not given cheques and sewing machines within three days.
“The government had to issue cheques by June 2010 for more than 8,000 applications, that were accepted from Sindh in 2009-2010,” said National Labour Federation Sindh president Rana Mehmood Ali Khan at a press conference on Monday.
Only a labourer registered under the Factories Act is entitled to the grant and they must meet certain requirements, such as submitting their daughter’s NIC along with tangible evidence of wedding plans, to be eligible, explained Khan.
Around 150,000 workers in Hyderabad division are registered under the Factories Act.
He said all the applicants from Karachi and Larkana were issued the cheques but only after they decided to protest.
“Nearly 600 applicants from Hyderabad have been issued cheques out of the 2,300 that applied, but none of the 3,000 applicants from Sukkur received anything,” said Khan.
According to the labour rights activist, the process of accepting new applications should have started from January this year.
Leaders from worker unions, including the bangles industry and the Mazdoor Ittehad Union, agreed that they would hold protests if their demands were not met.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2011.
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