ISLAMABAD: PTI government to launch one of the biggest cash relief packagein Pakistan over coronavirus outbreak.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtaron Sunday said the federal government will provide cash assistance of12,000 rupees to over 12 million deserving families under Ehsaas EmergencyCash Program in the wake of COVID-19.
Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Sania Nishtar said that thatthat Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is running the biggestrelief campaign in country’s history.
“We have received millions of messages on SMS service 8171 for Rs12,000cash grant for deserving families amid coronavirus pandemic,” she said,adding that deserving families will get cash assistance of 12,000 rupeesafter biometric verification through over 18,065 sale points or retailshops of Habib Bank Limited and Bank Al-Falah across Pakistan.
The Special Assistant said that transfer of cash assistance will be ensuredin a transparent and rule-based manner. She said there will be three typesof responses to people’s SMS seeking cash assistance, which includeeligible, ineligible, and contact to your respective districtadministration. She said employees of provincial and federal governmentsare not eligible for the assistance.
Sani Nishtar further said that existing Kafalat beneficiaries, who aregetting regular cash transfer of 2000 rupees per month, will be givenadditional one thousand rupees; hence, they too will get a tranche of12,000 rupees covering four months.
Read Top Stories
It may be noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan last week had formallylaunched SMS service under Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program to providefinancial relief to the deserving people.
Pakistan’s coronavirus cases tally on Sunday jumped to 2880 after newCOVID-19 infections were reported from across the country during the last24-hours, the national dashboard maintained by the federal ministry ofhealth showed.
According to the statistics on the dashboard, the death toll in the countryfrom the virus has jumped to 45, with four deaths reported during the past24 hours.
The latest statistics of the national dashboard stated 170 patients haverecovered from the COVID-19 pandemic thus far.
