Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Sirajul Haq has called upon the government to immediately clear the arrears of old age industrial workers who were on the verge of starvation due to government apathy.
While talking to the office bearers of the Old Age Employees Welfare Association who called on him at Mansoora on Wednesday, he said that industrial pensioners were facing hardships due to non payments of their arrears besides rising prices of basic commodities.
The JI chief deplored that the government had totally ignored the Supreme Court directions for raise in pensions of the old age industrial workers and the National Assembly resolution in this regard. He demanded that the EOBI pensions be raised to Rs10,000.
The EOBI leaders included Association President Raja Mukhtar Ahmed, Secretary Muhammad Saeed Awan and others.
Sirajul Haq said that if the rulers did not implement the apex court orders, the workers would be forced to take to streets. He said that the rulers are persistently ignoring the rights of the workers and the farmers due to which there is great unrest in the society.
He said that every state in the present era gave great respect to senior citizens and provided them free food, lodging, travelling and medical covers. However, he said, the Pakistani rulers were totally blind to the plight of old citizens against the Islamic teachings and the constitution. He said the government had not yet paid off Rs3 trillion that had been deducted from the salaries of the workers, he added.
Sirajul Haq said the present government had presented three budgets in which the pensions of government employees had been enhanced. However, the registered pensioners of the EOBI had been completely ignored.
He said these industrial employees regularly subscribed to the Social security fund despite their small salaries but they were not getting medical facilities at the Social Security hospitals and dispensaries.
The government, he said, had also promised medical cover under the Labour policy but that too was not being implemented.