LAHORE: Cabinet Standing Committee on Legislative Affairs has approved the recruitment of 664 visually impaired persons (VIPs) on daily wages.

The meeting of the committee was held in the Civil Secretariat under the chairmanship of the Chairman, Provincial Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Cooperatives and Environmental Protection Muhammad Basharat Raja. Higher Education Minister Raja Yasir Humayoun, Communications and Works Minister Ali Afzal Sahi, Law Minister Shahzad Khurram Virk and the respective secretaries also participated.

Secretary Social Welfare and Bait-ul-maal presented the details of vacant posts in various government departments.

Chairman Committee Muhammad Basharat Raja expressed his displeasure at slow pace of recruitment of special persons and said that in the light of Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi’s directive, recruitment of special persons should be ensured against 3% quota. “If special people want to earn their livelihood with their own hands, we will strengthen them,” resolved the minister.

Referring to the previous meetings, he said, “If all the Deputy Commissioners could play the role of facilitators in the recruitment of special persons, a significant improvement can be seen in the situation.” Raja Basharat directed the Secretary Social Welfare to get the details of the recruitment from all the secretaries to hatch comprehensive strategy.

“The Punjab government was making a long-term plan for the special persons to make them skilled at early age so that they could get job opportunities according to their physical abilities,” said Raja.

The committee also approved notification for the reconstitution of the board of Atchison College Lahore and Lawrence College Ghorra Gully, however deferred the matter of appointing the competent authority under the Punjab Apprenticeship Act for further improvement in the TEVTA matters. The chair directed the secretary higher education to take on board secretary labour for further deliberations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022