Workers’ Welfare Board Sindh slashes its administrative expense by over Rs 1 billion for maximum spending on well-being of labourers

Workers’ Welfare Board Sindh slashes its administrative expense by over Rs 1 billion for maximum spending on well-being of labourers

Karachi : The Workers’ Welfare Board (WWB) Sindh has decided to slash its administrative expense by Rs 1.0166 billion in the new financial year 2023-24 as compared to the same expenditure in the last fiscal year for allocating maximum resources for the benefit of the labourers and their families in the province.

The governing body of the WWB Sindh met here on Monday with Sindh Labour and Human Resources Minister, Saeed Ghani, in the chair for approving the board’s record surplus budget of Rs 21.5618 billion for the new financial year 2023-24.

The new budget shows that the WWB is expected to have an earning of Rs 38.175 billion in the new financial year 2023-24. The WWB is estimated to undertake a total expenditure of Rs 16.54.57 billion in the new fiscal year.

In the last financial year, the WWB was estimated to have undertaken an administrative expense of Rs 4.0156 billion that is expected to be reduced to Rs 2.999 billion in the new fiscal year. The new budget contains an increased allocation of Rs 1.3636 billion for the welfare of the workers and their families as compared to WWB’s budget for the last fiscal year.

In the last financial year, the WWB was estimated to have undertaken an expense of 2.1644 billion on the welfare of the workers while the same expenditure is expected to increase to Rs 3.528 billion in the new fiscal year. The development budget of WWB has been increased by 396 million as compared to the last year’s expense on development activities. In the last financial year, the WWB was estimated to have spent an amount of Rs 4.3492 billion on development activities while this year it is expected to spend Rs 4.7458 billion for the same cause.

The WWB in the new budget has allocated Rs 900 million for disbursing death grants for the welfare of the bereaved families of the workers. An amount of Rs 800 million has been allocated for providing assistance on the occasion of the marriage of the daughters of the labourers. The WWB has also allocated Rs 400 million for providing scholarships to the children of the workers on meritorious grounds. An amount of Rs two billion has been reserved for the endowment fund established for the higher education of the children of the workers.

The WWB has reserved Rs 10 million for water supply for labour colonies while it has also allocated Rs 18 million for the Haj pilgrimage of the workers. The new budget has allocated Rs 650 million for the new development schemes. This budget will be used for constructing 256 flats for workers in Tando Muhammad Khan and 1504 flats at the labour colony in Kotri.

The budget has also reserved a sum of Rs 3.73 billion for 19 new development schemes. These development projects include the repair and restoration of the educational institutions under the aegis of WWB, water supply for 1504 flats at the new labour colony in Hyderabad, construction of 4096 flats at Labour City in Bin Qasim Industrial Area of Karachi, building of 2048 flats for workers in Dharki, construction of 256 flats in District Tando Allahyar, construction of a high school in Khairpur, repair and restoration of six industrial homes, and construction of regional offices in Larkana and Sukkur

The service grade of sweepers employed by the WWB has been increased from one to four as per a similar decision earlier taken by Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution. Keeping in view the policy of the Sindh government of not purchasing new motor vehicles, the WWB has decided to sell its old and faulty vehicles for generating financial resources for purchasing new vehicles.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Labour and Human Resources Minister expressed gratitude to the members of the WWB’s governing body for extending to him fullest cooperation for taking steps for the welfare and wellbeing of the workers during his ministerial tenure.

He said the Sindh government had undertaken unprecedented steps for the welfare of the workers in the province in accordance with the manifesto of the PPP which stands for providing maximum benefits to the labourers.

Ghani said that Sindh had taken the lead as compared to the other provinces in launching various initiatives for transforming the lives of the workers.