‘Roadmap developed to end child labour at kilns’

LAHORE:

Minister for Labour and Human Resource Raja Ashfaq Sarwar said on Tuesday Labour Department had made a roadmap to eliminate child labour at 5,600 brick kilns throughout the province.

He told a meeting that work in this regard would be started within 10 days in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur and Nankana Sahib. He said that in order to make the project a success, a strategy and a comprehensive questionnaire would be evolved with the cooperation of the Punjab Information Technology Board. The questionnaire will be sent to kiln owners through the relevant DCOs. He said that besides collecting particulars about kiln employees, their families and children, a mapping about number of kilns and record of nearest educational institutions would also be compiled.

The minister said children of kiln labourers would be encouraged to obtain education. He said a meeting would be arranged every 15 days to review progress on the project. He said action would be taken against the district labour officers if they failed to end child labour. He said amendments were being made to relative laws to eradicate child labour.

Labour Secretary Ishrat Ali, Punjab Workers’ Welfare Board Secretary Rizwan Sharif and project director for eliminating child labour Javed Gul attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2015.