'Punjab government adopting strategy to provide job-oriented training, interest-free loans to youth'

Provincial Minister for Labour & HR Raja Ashfaq Sarwar has said that Punjab government, in collaboration with effective and active NGOs, is adopting a mutual strategy to provide job-oriented training and interest-free loans to the youth of Punjab. He said this while talking to a delegation of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) Qazi Azmat Eisa in a meeting, here on Tuesday.
Saima Liaqat Khan, Yasir Ashfaq and Dr Syed Asif were included in the delegation while Secretary Labour Ishrat Ali, MPAs Saira Iftikhar and Sardar Ramesh Singh Arorra, Chairman TEVTA Irfan Qasier Sheikh, MD Punjab Vocational Training Council (PVTC) Sajjad Naseer, COO Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) Ali Akbar Bosan, Project Director Javed Gill and other related officers of Labour Department were also present at this occasion.
The Minister for Labour said Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif had initiated an integrated project for elimination of child and bounded labour with the huge amount of Rs 5.2 billion. Micro credit loans were being provided to the kiln workers whereas non-formal, formal and skill education was being imparted to their children at nearest schools, he added.
Raja Ashfaq Sarwer while lauding the performance and services of NGO said their programmes of interest-free and microfinancing loans, technical training, access to market and guidance centre were appreciable steps of the NGO to alleviate poverty from poor masses. He said Labour Department was taking concrete steps to eliminate child labour from all the kilns of Punjab province by digital mapping, provincial child labour survey and filling of questionnaire, taking kilns owners in confidence with co-operation of Punjab Information Technology Board and Bureau of Statistics.
He said that updated details regarding child labour at kilns would be finalised till the end of August. NGO Chief Qazi Azmat Eisa appreciated Chief Minister Punjab's initiative to allocate funds in current budget for providing health facilities to the people of Balochistan and ensured his full co-operation for alleviation of poverty.