Speakers call for implementation of SIRA, 2013

HYDERABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Jul, 2026) The Sindh Agricultural General Workers Union (Registered), an affiliate of the National Trade Union Federation Pakistan (NTUF), has called for implementation of the Sindh Industrial Relations Act (SIRA), 2013.

Addressing a conference at the Mumtaz Mirza Auditorium on Sunday, the union's leader comrade Sabhagi Bheel deplored that despite passage of 13 years the law which meant to protect farm workers was eluding its implementation.

She observed that the farm workers were supposed to be registered with the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI) and the Employees' Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI).

She added that they were also entitled by the law to receive death grants, marriage grants, educational scholarships and other labour welfare benefits.

However, she lamented that deficiencies in enforcement of the law had kept the peasants deprived of the rights which were enshrined in that law.

The union's comrade Lal Bux pointed out that serious water shortages, reducing crop prices, fuel price increases and the inflation in the rates of the agricultural inputs had made farming economically unsustainable.

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According to him, recurrent floods, droughts, heatwaves and other climate-sparked disasters were further contributing to financial losses of the farmers and peasants.

The NTUF's leader Nasir Mansoor underscored the need of carrying out meaningful land reforms under which landless peasants were given land and their other rights in order to do away with the current agrarian crisis.

The conference also passed resolutions demanding immediate implementation of SIRA 2013; comprehensive survey of all peasants and women agricultural workers in Sindh ; and establishment of peasant courts like the labour courts in all districts of Sindh.

The event also called for allocation of reserved seats for peasants in the National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies; issuance of the Hari Card only to genuine agricultural workers; and protection of Sindh's historical water rights under the 1991 Water Accord.

Gul Rehman, Faiz Kerio, comrade Sajad Zaheer Solangi ( Progressive Writers Association) and Fatima Leghari also expressed their views on the occasion.