LAHORE:Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has launched ‘Punjab Ehsaas Rashan’ programme with a substantial amount of Rs100 billion for eight million low-income families of the province.
Starting the programme from a local departmental store at Shadman, the CM said, under this programme deserving families would get flour, pulses, cooking oil and ghee at 40 per cent subsidised rates, adding that edibles in the programme would also be reviewed. The government would extend the scope of Ehsaas Ration programme to every street and town, he announced.
He said 40 per cent subsidy for the poor segment was a huge subsidy and the flood-hit people have also been registered in this programme, adding that 80,000 people have given their response with regard to this programme in an hour and thousands of families got themselves registered under the said programme.
CM Parvez Elahi paid tribute to Dr Sania Nishtar, chairperson of the programme for his day and night working to make Ehsaas Ration programme a success, saying that the benefit of targeted subsidy goes to the common man and initially Punjab government had allocated Rs100 billion for the programme and if needed, the amount would further be increased. He highlighted that the Ehsaas programme had been acknowledged across the world and providing relief to the poor people was the vision of the Punjab government.
Parvez Elahi said that the prime focus of Punjab government was welfare of common and poor people, adding that this programme was a welfare oriented programme for the vulnerable segment of society. He mentioned that Ravi Urban Development Project (RUDA) was also a flagship programme of the Punjab government, adding that those who illegally grabbed the RUDA land would not be spared. The land mafia would be sternly dealt with iron hands and would be taken to their logical end, he added.
The chairperson Ehsaas programme Dr Sania Nishtar said that the registration/enrollment process of the deserving and low income families had been started in all the districts of Punjab. The registration process had been made very simple so that the people do not face any difficulty or hurdle, she said and added that the registration process would continue for two weeks. The interesting head of the family could send their (Computerised National Identity Card) CNIC number on the toll free number 8123, she mentioned.
Dr Sania apprised that registration could be done on the web portal of Ehsaas Punjab and availability of android phone was not essential. They could get themselves registered by sending the SMS on mentioned number, she informed.
Former Minister Moonis Elahi, Adviser to CM Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, Chief Secretary Abdullah Sumbal, Commissioner Lahore, secretary information, secretary P&D and officials concerned were also present.