Speakers at a seminar Tuesday asked the government and international community to announce special incentives for the conflict-affected marble factories and extend facilities to the workers in Buner district.



The seminar was organised by an NGO on the rights and livelihood issues of workers in marble factories and mines in Buner district. NWFP Minister for Labour Sher Azam Wazir, Buner District Nazim Abdul Rauf Khan, Pakistan People's Party MPA Major (R) Baseer Khattak, Central President of Muttahida Labour Federation Gul Rehman, Rahimzada of Marble Industries Association, Buner, Mukhtar Bacha, Abdul Khaliq of ActionAid, Idrees Kamal and Peshawar Press Club President Shamim Shahid addressed the seminar.



Sher Azam Wazir said the provincial government was aware of the sufferings of the people of Malakand division including Buner where clashes between militants and security forces had adversely affected social, economic, political and industrial sectors. He announced setting up of a healthcare centre in Buner exclusively for the workers of marble industries and mines in the district.



He will also seek a special package for the owners of marble industries and mines located in the troubled zones as the workers and industrialists are co-related,?he added. Abdul Rauf Khan said that besides militancy, the frequent and prolonged electricity loadshedding in Buner had damaged the marble industries, which was producing about 68 per cent of the marble in the country. He claimed that 20,000 people including miners, industrialists, workers, transporters and landowners depended on the marble industries. The military operation in Buner not only displaced the population but also left the marble industries deserted for the last six months,?the district nazim said.



Rahimzadha deplored the unscheduled loadshedding and low electricity voltage in the industrial area of Buner, saying the workers and craftsmen were waiting for hours during the power outage. He will reduce working hours to six hours a day in case the government promised uninterrupted power supply to the marble factories,?he said, adding that the workers were regularly changing their workplaces and the industrialists and owners could not offer proper facilities to them.