'Punjab government implementing international labour standards'

'Punjab government is implementing the international labour standards as they are an essential component in the international framework for ensuring that the growth of the global economy provides benefits to the all stakeholders.'
Punjab Minister for Labour and Human Resources Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon averred this while addressing tripartite workshop on International Labour Standards - Obligations & Opportunities here on Wednesday.
The minister said that Pakistan had ratified 35 conventions of International Labour Organisation (ILO) and most of our labour laws were framed in compliance with these conventions, he added. He said Punjab government was making all out efforts to secure rights of workers, to promote harmonious industrial relations and to provide basic facilities to the workers in the province.
Noon said that government was providing social security benefits to the workers in addition to facilitating them with labour colonies, free education facilities to their children and improved medical care. He said that new hospitals were being constructed at a cost Rs 700 million to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure for the workers.
He said that Rs 270 million were being spent to improve the existing medical facilities in the social security hospitals. Later, the minister inaugurated hostel for the trainees of Centre for Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment (CIWCE) and Industrial Relations Institute (IRI). The hostel had been built through a development scheme at the cost of Rs 15 million and would provide residential facilities to the trainees of the institution.
The Secretary Labour and Human Resources Hassan Nawaz Tarrar speaking on the occasion said that human dimension to the factor of production was very important and government took concrete measures to strengthen the human resource factor and improve the working conditions of the workers. He said that 260 workers ousted from Gharibwal Cement Factory had been restored with the efforts of labour department.
Representative of ILO Gagan Rajbhandari, Convenor Webcop, Iftikhar Mahmood Randhawa and Khursheed Ahmed, General Secretary Pakistan Workers Federation also spoke on the occasion.