Pension Less 79 Coal Mines Employees Who Died

Of the 79 labourers who died in Pakistan’s dangerous coal mines since January 1, 2024, not a single worker was unfortunately registered under the EOBI program. All of them were nationals of Pakistan and not migrants. He did not give up his dignity. They put their expectancies on the state, but the state left them. Rather, the state treated them like foreigners and did not even think about them for a moment. Is the state impoverishing them by separating them from EOBI? This atrocity is done by a government department called Employee old age benefits institution.

Pakistan is a country with an informal workforce of around 80 million workers engaged in various industries, agriculture, domestic, and commercial establishments. The industry and trade of the country run only with the labour of these hardworking workers. But in return, only 40% of these workers receive the statutory wages.

EOBI’s monthly contribution is only 4.7 million or only 6% of the amount deposited by registered employers. Our government is unaware of the remaining 94% of workers. Are those 94% of workers present?

Where and what do they work? Who are their employers for whom they are working? How will they live their lives after retirement or God forbid some disability? It is impossible to know why a state deliberately prepares for its workers a bleak future and a miserable old age.

Suppose there is a law in our country which prohibits the pension of a grade 22 government officer unless there are more than 5 grade 22 officers serving in the same department. Ironically, it is our country’s law that allows employers who employ fewer than five employees not to register their employees with the EOBI program.

No political leader in the history of Pakistan has ever said that every worker above the age of 18 should be registered in the EOBI program. At present, millions of workers in Pakistan are employed in various forms, as self-employed or through a third-party contractor.

Those outside the jurisdiction of Employee old age benefits institutions (EOBI) do not even hold an existence of their own. An unemployed or self-employed person may be able to obtain an EOBI registration to contribute to a personally-required pension grant for their old age life. 

The existing body of EOBI should be dissolved and replaced by a centralized and fully digitized body linked to Pakistan NADRA which would facilitate access to every poor worker. This old and traditional process of registering new workers and paying their monthly contributions has been replaced by a simple mobile phone app. 

There should be no need to go to an office or bank, fill paper forms etc. or make photocopies. EOBI’s monthly contribution rate should be standardized across Pakistan and within the reach of every worker so that every worker can pay it without any financial constraints.

Develop EOBI In A Professional One

Employees Old Age Benefit Institute is a well-known registered institute from the local as well as federal Government of Pakistan whose sole purpose is to work for the benefit of their worthy employees.

Near about two-thirds of its existing 657 employees are working to control all its functions and to manage all disciplines where the branch of EOBI is located. The purpose of this online management is to give relief to old age pensioners in all parts of the country at their doorstep because, at the age of more than three scores, it’s impossible to suffer hardness in getting a pension or routine work.

The EOBI work online to register their employee’s names, addresses, phone numbers, CNIC numbers, The latest Eobi contribution and total EOBI contribution so that when the employees are registered then in case of any emergency or accident there will be no difficulty in finding legal heirs and legal heirs will get pension and other benefits without any troubles.