MUHAMMAD SALEEM

LAHORE: The interim Punjab chief minister Dr. Hasan Askari Thursday said the target of durable socio-economic development cannot be achieved without giving due status to the working class.

He stated this while talking to the provincial minister for labour & human resource and transport Mian Nauman Kabir, here Thursday. During the meeting, issues pertaining to the performance of public sector departments and official matters came under discussion.

The minister also apprised the chief minister about the performance of labour and human resource, livestock and transport departments.

Talking on the occasion, Dr Askari said that trained human resource which is the backbone of trade and industrial sectors plays an important role in giving sound foundations to the economy. “There is a need to give special attention to train and educate the human resource according to global market needs so that Pakistani workforce could be accommodated in local and international markets,” he said, adding: “Continuous implementation of skills development program is imperative for providing qualitative trainings to the human resource.”

Dr Hasan Askari has said that labourers play a pivotal role in giving sound foundations to the national economy and added that trained human resource is the backbone of trade and industrial sectors. The Punjab government is giving full attention to improve the lot of the working class and provision of quality educational and healthcare facilities to the labourers and industrial workers has remained the part of governmental priorities.

Dr Askari said that child labour is a cruel menace and the government has to eliminate it with solid steps. He added that livestock sector has tremendous potential to benefit the country and its sustained development would tremendously benefit the economy. He said the livestock sector can be flourished by bringing it at par with the developed countries by properly utilizing the modern technology and expertise while steps are needed to be taken to increase the production of milk and meat. It is the need of the hour to take full benefit of the opportunities available in agriculture, livestock and other sectors and improving the standard of training is also imperative for increasing the production in these sectors, he added.