LAHORE: Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) has offered free specialised training to convicts in Punjab jails to produce the best quality skilled woodworkers. Talking to Inspector General of Prisons Punjab Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig on Sunday, Chief Executive Officer Pakistan Furniture Council Mian Kashif Ashfaq offered a free training package and discussed its modalities and scope of enhancement of cooperation between public and private sector. He said that at present Pakistan is facing an acute shortage of highly skilled woodworkers so we decided in principle to meet this alarming scarcity of artisans by training the convicts on modern scientific lines to meet market driven demands. He further offered that on successful completion of proper training, all convicts after release, will be absorbed in furniture manufacturing factories with good pay packages. Dr Waqar Ch Advisor PFC present on the occasion said “PFC may also consider offering a reasonable monthly stipend to all convicts trainees to attract maximum number of participants”. TLTP
