Sindh Assembly passes domestic workers bill

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly on Monday passed the Domestic Workers Welfare Bill 2025, a measure aimed at extending legal protections to household workers in the province and setting out formal rules for their employment and working conditions.

The bill, which still requires the governor’s assent to become law, defines a domestic worker as a person engaged in domestic work in a household. It was presented by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar along with the report and approval of the Standing Committee on Labour and Human Resources.

Under the legislation, employers will be required to provide domestic workers with rest breaks, medical care, a minimum number of meals and regulated working hours. The law also bars the employment of children below the age of 16 in households in any capacity.

It further requires that an employment letter in the prescribed form be issued for every domestic worker at the time of hiring, with a copy to be submitted to the relevant labour inspector either manually or digitally. A full-time or live-in domestic worker will not be allowed to work for more than eight hours a day, while no full-time or part-time domestic worker can be made to work more than six days a week.

The bill also provides that a female domestic worker will be entitled to six weeks of paid maternity leave. In addition, every domestic worker will be entitled to 10 casual leave days and eight sick leave days with full wages in a year.

For dispute settlement, the law provides for the establishment of a Dispute Resolution Committee headed by a grade-16 officer to hear and resolve complaints and disputes. The labour department will also appoint an appellate authority in each district to hear appeals against decisions of the committee.

Transport plan for Karachi

During the sitting, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon told the assembly that the provincial government had approved the procurement of 500 more electric vehicle buses for Karachi under a public-private partnership model.

Responding to a call attention notice moved by MQM-P member Naseer Ahmed, he said the buses would run on three routes covering Ittehad Town, Banaras Colony, Liaquatabad, Jahangir Road and Cantt Station. He added that additional routes would also be introduced for Orangi Ghaziabad, Iqbal Market, Walika, Nazimabad No. 2, Ayesha Manzil and Zahoor Chowk.

Naseer Ahmed told the house that there was no public transport service from Surjani Chowrangi to Banaras Chowk and asked what steps were being taken to address the issue. Memon said there had previously been no concept of EV buses in the country and credited the Pakistan Peoples Party with introducing them.

Referring to existing services, he said: "Ridership on the Orange Line has increased." He also said new routes had been launched from Gulshan-i-Maymar.

Gutka, mawa and policing concerns

In response to another call attention notice moved by MQM-P’s Maaz Mehboob, Home Minister Lanjar said action would continue not only against drugs but also against the gutka mafia, and that no leniency would be shown.

The MQM-P lawmaker said gutka and mawa were being sold widely, including in his constituency, and alleged that the trade was operating under police patronage. Lanjar told the house that police were continuously acting against drug dealers and said those efforts deserved appreciation.

He also said the law relating to gutka and mawa was bailable. Referring to claims about the product, he said: "Some people claim they are making ‘legal gutka’, but betel nut was being smuggled in illegally and used in gutka."

Lanjar added that gutka use was high in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Benazirabad, and said it had contributed to a rise in mouth cancer cases.

Health issue raised in the house

Responding to a call attention notice by MQM-P’s Musarrat Jabeen, Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said a child who died at Dow University Hospital’s Ojha Campus had stage 4 lung cancer and that the death was not caused by negligence.

She told the assembly that the child had not been on a ventilator and had been brought to the hospital at a very late stage.

Other proceedings

Speaker Syed Awais Shah rejected an adjournment motion moved by MQM-P’s Aamir Siddiqui regarding the absence of traffic police at city traffic signals, ruling it out of order under assembly rules. Opposing the motion, Lanjar said an adjournment motion was meant for urgent matters.

The house also passed The Benazir Institute of Urology and Transplant, Nawabshah Bill, 2026. Later, the session was adjourned until Tuesday.