ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to inaugurate the ‘Ehsaas Rashan Riayat Programme’ to facilitate low-income families in the country’s federal capital today.
A report of state broadcaster said the country’s first-ever targeted commodity subsidies programme is in line with the premier’s vision to provide relief to the masses and target government subsidies.
Prime Minister aide on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Senator Dr Sania Nishtar will brief him on the salient features of the end-to-end digitised programme – which is said to be the first of its kind worldwide.
The initiative under the welfare state program will effectively lower prices by 30 per cent for essential commodities including wheat flour, cooking oil or ghee and pulses.
The programme will disburse Rs106 billion in subsidies to 20 million eligible families this year, and 130 million people are expected to benefit, per report.
The report also mentioned that around 19.5 million potential beneficiaries have been registered and are currently being verified whereas 0.52 million beneficiaries have already been informed about their eligibility.
On the other hand, 117,000 plus Kiryana retailers have also been registered and are currently being verified and around 2,300 of them are ready to disburse the subsidy.
PTI govt plans to launch Ehsaas Petrol Card for middle class people
National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has been mandated to execute the programme. The commodity subsidy will be disbursed through a network of government-run utility stores as well as NBP-enabled Kiryana stores.
Imran Khan-led government and all participating federating units are sharing the budget in the proportion of 35/65.
