ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry, on Thursday, announced a mega development package of Rs446 billion for Sindh.
In a tweet, the minister said that the prime minister will announce a mega development package of Rs446 billion for Sindh in Sukkur tomorrow.
This huge amount will be in addition to the Rs1,100 billion of the Karachi package, he added.
The government is taking all possible steps to compensate the deprived segment of Sindh.
As per the schedule of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Sukkur district of Sindh, he will visit a payment site-camp to review the Ehsaas Kafaalat disbursal operations that have just begun this week.
At the site, the PM will join the Kafaalat beneficiary women to witness details of biometrically-enabled payments.
He will also interact with the women present at the campsite to gain firsthand insights on the multitude of Ehsaas programmes and initiatives in Sindh, particularly, Ehsaas Kafaalat.
Ehsaas Kafaalat is the government’s flagship safety net programme that provides monthly cash stipends of Rs2,000 and saving bank accounts to the poorest households across the country. Safeguarding safe and easy digital payments amid the third wave of COVID-19, Ehsaas has set up 516 specialised payment camps throughout Sindh to roll out recently opened Kafaalat payments for the period Jan 2021 – Jun 2021.
Combined payment for six months is being made.
Alongside, payments can also be withdrawn from biometrically-enabled ATMs of Habib Bank across all districts of Sindh.
Since its launch in March 2019, the different initiatives of Ehsaas- Kafaalat, Waseela-eTaleem Digital, undergraduate scholarships, interest-free loans and several others have been rolled out in Sindh to uplift the deserving households. In Ehsaas Kafaalat, 2.4 million women beneficiaries are being served with the monthly stipends of Rs2,000 each and the number is expected to increase with the enrollment of new households through the ongoing Ehsaas survey that is expected to be completed nationwide by June 2021.
During the COVID-19 situation, Ehsaas Emergency Cash worth Rs56.7 billion was disbursed in all districts of Sindh among more than five million households.
Last year, Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships granted 6,187 need cum merit-based scholarships worth 561.34 million to undergraduate students from the low-income backgrounds.
Ehsaas interest-free loans has supported more than 47,869 borrowers (64.7 percent women) through loans worth Rs1.5 billion to run small entreprises in 18 districts, Ehsaas Amdan has transferred small income-generating assets worth Rs1.83 billion to 30,652 deserving households in seven districts of Sindh to graduate them out of poverty.
Under the first phase of Ehsaas Nashonuma, the programme has opened six Nashonuma centers in five Tehsils of Badin to tackle stunting among pregnant and lactating mothers, and children under two years of age through a mix of conditional cash transfers and specialized nutritious food.
Four more centers are opening this month in Dadu district as well.
Over 7,000 mothers and children in Badin enrolled under Nashonuma are currently getting specialised nutritious food to prevent stunting in children along with cash stipends (Rs2,000 for girl child and Rs1,500 for boy child per quarter).
Under primary education conditional cash transfer programme, 1.4 million deserving children are benefitting from the quarterly stipends (Rs2,000 for girl child and Rs1,500 for boy child per quarter).
To identify new deserving households for Ehsaas Kafaalat programme, the android based Ehsaas survey is currently 72.6 percent complete in Sindh.
At least 66 Ehsaas Registration desks are being set up over the next three months at Tehsil level in each district, so that missed households can self-register themselves.
Aiming to serve free shelter and meals to daily wage earners, five new Panagahs have recently been opened in Karachi. Last year, Ehsaas Langar was set up in Umerkot to serve free meals two times a day.
Sukkur Division is one of the seven administrative divisions of Sindh that comprises of three districts: Sukkur, Khairpur and Ghotki. Overall, across the Division, as many as 714,756 million beneficiaries received Ehsaas Emergency Cash worth Rs8.2 billion amid COVID-19 last year; the 381,206 poorest women are currently benefitting from Kafaalat; 185,104 million children are being supported under primary education conditional cash transfer; 7,211 borrowers (79 percent women) received interest-free loans of Rs228 million and 250 students (33 percent girls) were awarded Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships last year.
Also, the Ehsaas digital survey is 69.47 percent complete in the Division. Registration desks for self-registration of missed households will be opened across all three districts in the current quarter.
In Karachi, as many as 173,214 deserving households are currently benefiting from Ehsaas Kafaalat and more than 8,188 children are currently benefiting from quarterly stipends under primary education conditional cash transfers. During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Ehsaas Emergency Cash worth Rs7.4 billion was transferred to 756,858 deserving families.
To-date, Ehsaas survey stands at 66.5 percent completion and is likely to be completed by June 2021.
Meanwhile, Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhary, on Thursday, said responsibility rests with every Muslim to thwart efforts aimed at fanning violence and extremism in the country.
In a tweet, he said Tehreek-e-Labaik like extremist outfit wants to change the identity of Islam.
He said the strong foundation of Islam was laid in the sub-continent by the Sufi saints through their message of affection, sincerity, and respect for humanity.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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