Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government fixes Rs10,000 as minimum wage

PESHAWAR : Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on July 24 announced Rs2,000 increase in the minimum wage for labourers and fixed it at Rs10,000 per month with effect from July 1.

“The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minimum Wage Act 2013 is applied on labourers working in industries and employees hired by private educational institutions, hospitals, private security organisations and laboratories,” Minister for Labour and Industries Bakht Baidar told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club.

Jamaluddin Khan, secretary labour, Faqeer Hussain, coordinator Watan Pal Labour Union, and officials of the labour and industries departments were also present on the occasion.

“The government has provided relief to workers and labourers by increasing 2,000 rupees in their salaries. It has been implemented since July 1, 2013 and special directives have been given to inspectors of the department for its proper implementation,” the minister added.

The department has also established a complaint cell where labourers and workers would register their complaints and immediate action would be taken on the applications, he said.

Bakht Baidar, who belongs to the Aftab Sherpao-led Qaumi Watan Party which is part of the PTI-headed provincial government, admitted that the worst law and order situation and power outages had severely affected the production of industries. However, he added that the government was striving to revive the closed industrial units.

Foreign investors have also shown interest in investing in the province and the government would provide them full support, he said.

“We are trying to convince USAID for help in restoring the closed industries in the province,” he added.

He lauded the performance of the Pak-German Furniture Factory established by the Industries Department. “The factory still manufactures good quality furniture despite the decades old machinery. To make maximum use of the factory, we need to upgrade the machinery,” Bakht Baidar stated.

He asked the officials of the Labour Department to identify small industrial units established at homes and register their workers with the department so that their rights could be safeguarded.