CWAs Resolving Expats’ Issues Efficiently: NA Body Told
ISLAMABAD, Feb 11 (APP): All the Community Welfare Attachees (CWAs) have maintained a close liaison with the authorities concerned in the host countries to resolve the issues, faced by the expatriates, in an efficient manner.
Federal Secretary Dr Muhammad Hashim Popalzai told the Standing Committee of National Assembly on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, chaired by Sheikh Fayyaz ud Din here on Thursday. The secretary informed the committee that about 8.6 million overseas Pakistanis were working abroad for various job assignments and currently, 24 offices of the CWAs were fully functional in 16 countries having sizeable diaspora. The CWAs are making concerted efforts to enhance the export of Pakistani manpower in their host countries, he added. He also apprised the committee about performance evaluation of the CWAs and policy recommendation.
The forum was also briefed about the functioning and performance of the Directorate of Workers Education (DWE) by its director general. He said the DWE was introduced by erstwhile Federal Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis in 1982 in collaboration with International Labour Organization and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It was established as an attached Department of the Labour & Manpower Division with its Headquarters in Islamabad and 14 regional centers at the provinces, he added.
After the 18th constitutional amendment, the director general said the regional offices were transferred to the provinces, whereas the DWE Islamabad office was placed under the Capital Administration and Development Division of the Cabinet Secretariat on June 30, 2011. Giving details about Machh incident in which some colliers were killed brutally, the federal secretary said the mining area was allotted to Shaikh Islam, M/s Asif coal company and Ghistri.
Those coal miners were engaged by the contractor Salam, he added. He said M/s Asif Coal Company and Ghistri had not yet registered with Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI). He further informed that 10 mine workers (seven Afghan refugees and three Pakistani citizens) were killed in terrorist attack. The NA body directed the Workers Welfare Fund (WWF) and others to submit complete details of the Machh incident’s martyred in the next meeting.
The committee members said the officials of Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) and National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTEC) should be invited in the next meeting to ascertain the problems being faced by the departments.
Members of National Assembly including Sajid Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Khan Dullah, Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Choudhary, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, Atta Ullah, Sobia Kamal Khan, Tashfeen Safdar, Syed Javed Husnain, Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Syed Abrar Ali Shah, Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto and Muhammad Jamal ud Din also attended the meeting.
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