ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday reviewed the progress of the Prime Minister’s Fuel Relief Programme and ordered authorities to cancel the licences of petrol pumps that refuse to provide subsidised fuel to registered beneficiaries.
Chairing a high-level meeting in Islamabad, the prime minister expressed satisfaction with the programme’s progress and transparency. He said that simpler registration and subsidy disbursement procedures had boosted enrolment, allowing more deserving citizens to benefit. He described the technology-based scheme as a potential game changer for future public welfare initiatives.
The meeting was told that 15,519,282 citizens have registered so far, including 15.06 million motorcycle owners and 449,000 owners of vehicles with engines of up to 800cc. Of the 63,153,685 subsidy tokens issued, 59,445,347 have been redeemed, and total disbursements had reached Rs28.6 billion as of 4 November.
The prime minister praised Federal IT and Telecommunication Minister Shaza Fatima, Federal Secretary Zarrar Hashim Khan and their team for building a monitoring mechanism and dashboard to ensure transparency and oversight. Separate call centres have also been set up for consumers and petrol pump operators to handle complaints.
Stressing that registered beneficiaries must receive the promised relief, he directed strict action against pumps found denying them subsidised fuel.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Federal Ministers Ahad Khan Cheema, Musadik Malik, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Attaullah Tarar and Ali Pervaiz Malik, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kiani, Special Assistant to the PM Tariq Bajwa, Special Assistant on Energy Lt Gen (retd) Zafar Iqbal and other senior officials.
The programme was launched on 13 September as petroleum prices climbed amid tensions in the Middle East. The government announced a subsidy of Rs100 per litre to ease the burden on low- and middle-income households. Motorcyclists, rickshaw and Qingqi owners can get subsidised petrol on up to 20 litres a month, while owners of vehicles up to 800cc are eligible for 30 litres.
Petroleum dealers initially resisted the scheme over the reimbursement mechanism, but the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association agreed to implement it after talks with the government. The government later relaxed eligibility and registration requirements and introduced a complaints system for consumers and pump operators.
