Provincial minister of Sindh for Transport & Mass Transit, Labour, Human Resources, and Information Nasir Hussain Shah said that his government will raise voice in Council for Common Interest (CCI) to resolve problems faced by business community. He was addressing to a meeting of Korangi Association of Trade & Industry (KATI) recently. Petron in Chief of KATI SM Muneer, President Masood Naqi, President Masood Naqi, Zahid Saeed, and Zubair Chhaya welcomed the minister at KATI.
Nasir Hussain Shah said that all funds for development of Industrial Areas would be released soon, as announced by CM Murad Ali Shah. He told that legislation regarding amending labour laws would be soon took place; Sindh would be the first province of the country who will host tripartite conference of employers, employees and government. He told that KCR would be inaugurated soon, yellow Bus Lane was delayed due to contractor but now world band and Asian development bank are also interested in the project. He promised to set fire stations up in all industrial areas of Sindh, “even I am ready to procure fire tenders from my department if the funds would not available at provincial level” he said.
SM Muneer said due to delays in payments, exporters refund conditions are getting worse. He said that Federal government vowed to pay the refunds many times but not yet been fulfilled. He was of view that due to hue and cry on so called “Panama” issue real and core problems are being ignored. Muneer said that we always advocate equal treatment of Employers and Employees.
Prior to this President KATI Masood Naqi said that legislation regarding labour laws should be top on the government priority list. He said that due to mismanagement of transportation and absence of a centralized transportation plan workforce of industry and citizens are facing great deal of problems. He also urged to develop new and low cost housing schemes for Korangi Industrial Area (KIA), as labour society established decades back now out of capacity. He said that fire eruption incidents is a core concern for us due to unavailability of firefighting infrastructure in Industrial areas , he urged that a fire station should be established in KIA , with fire tenders and other facilities, we are ready to support for their administration and maintenance.
Head of KATI’s Standing Committee on Labour, SESSI, and EOBI Zahid Saeed said that employers, employees and government were on the same page after the tripartite consultation and agreed upon a set of suggestions; we hope that soon this will become part of legislation by provincial assembly. He said that many export based sector are facing issues raised by foreign buyers due to noncompliance of Labour Laws, so the process of legislation should be put on fast track.
On this occasion Chairman and CEO KITE DMC told the minister that although specified fund allocations for Industrial Areas of Karachi was suggested by KATI, but KIA didn’t get his due share in total released amount, we are preparing a summary of Rs481m. Responding to the issues raised by KATI’s office bearers Nasir Hussain Shah said that due share of KIA would be allocated. He said that Sindh Government will take each and every step to facilitate business community of Karachi and the province. He said that PPP is a labour centric party but we can also understand the problems of Business community so all possible relief would be provided to both employers and employees on equal grounds. The meeting was attended by Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan, Gulzar Firoze, Tariq MaliK, Salman Aslam, Junaid Naqi and other current and former office bearers of KATI and representatives of business community.
Photo Caption: Patron-in-Chief KATI S M Muneer & President Masood Naqi presenting KATI shield to Provincial Minister of Sindh for Transport, Labour & Information Nasir Hussain Shah. At the occasion Zahid Saeed, Zubair Chhaya, Navaid Bukhari, Gulzar Firoz, Ghazanfar Ali Khan and Tariq Malik also present.