KARACHI: The Sindh Labour and Human Resource Department has sought at least Rs 96 million to undertake a survey on child labours in all parts of the province aimed at maintaining a collective data, Daily Times has learnt. Sources said the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has also agreed to contribute some Rs 36 million to help the authorities accomplish the task. According to sources, the Sindh government lacked the data on child labour in the province that needed to be collected so that the respective authorities could work on the plan to assist the child labour by various means. There are approximately one million children involved in child labour in Sindh and they are involved in agriculture, garages, hotels, carpet-making, manufacturing and selling of bangles, the cement industry, deep-sea fishing and other industries, which are hazardous for children’s health, sources added. Sources said that before the 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed, the Employment of Children Act, 1991 is the only law regulating employment of children, which include a schedule of hazardous forms of labour adding that despite presence of this law, it is evident that not a single conviction or prosecution has been made since 1991. Many officers from the Sindh Labour Department also do not know the procedures of prosecution under this law. After the 18th Constitutional Amendment was passed, child labour has now become a provincial subject but unfortunately the Sindh government has failed to introduce any law to counter this problem. Sources further said that the Labour and Human Resource Department of Sindh government has held negotiation with the UNICEF in this regard that agreed to support the plan by injecting some Rs 36 million adding that Rs 96 million would be utilised by the labour department, sources said. Sources said the labor department has forwarded a scheme to the Planning and Development Department in this regard and it has been included in the upcoming budget with an allocation of all the desired funds adding that a survey would be conducted initially in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur. After that, the survey would be launched in the remaining districts of the province. When contacted, Labour and Human Resource Director Dr Ghulam Mustafa Suhag told Daily Times that no authority worked on the child labour issue that resulted in no data available on child labour to the government. “After the survey of child labour in the Sindh, the government would be able to help and educate child labour to make them educated youth”, the director added.