Punjab government will establish 600 "Madni Dastarkhawans" in all the populous cities of the province in public-private partnership to provide cooked meal on nominal price to the low income segment of the society. A decision in this regard was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee constituted by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to ascertain operational mode for the scheme.
The meeting principally agreed with the time tested model of "Madni Dastarkhawans" operated by a former member Punjab Assembly Haji Muhammad Nawaz according to which, 600 such dastarkhawans would be established in all populous cities of the province with public private partnership.
The meeting was chaired by Provincial Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan and attended by Minister for Food Punjab Bilal Yaseen, Agriculture Minister Dr Farrukh Javed, Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Punjab Chaudhary Muhammad Shafique, Khurram Gulfam MPA and senior officers of the relevant governmental departments participated.
Chairman Cabinet Committee Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan reviewed three different models for proper implementation on the project of provision of low price meal to the low income segment of the society and remarked that the operational mode to achieve the purpose presented by Haji Muhammad Nawaz was the most doable in the light of Quranic Injunctions.
In this model, "Dastarkhawan Societies" to be constituted in every district of the province which will monitor the activity and would be made responsible for maintenance of operational record which would be submitted to the relevant DCOs on weekly basis.
According to this model, the government will pay no subsidy to the owners of both Tandoors made with clay and mechanical ones but every mechanical Tandoor will be linked with three "Madni Dastarkhawans" located in the vicinity and charges for cooking Rotis will be paid instead of providing subsidised Atta. This project would cost Rs 120 million as a subsidy amount to the Punjab government on the rate of Rs 5 to the cost of each meal as subsidy.
The philanthropists would contribute Rs 10 per each meal while every destitute will have to pay Rs 15 only for one time quality meal. In this way, more than 300 million poor of the poorest people of the province would be facilitated annually.
Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan directed the relevant officers of Industries, Commerce and Investment Department Punjab to submit a detailed report within a week regarding identification of all those places in different cities where installation of mechanical Tandoors and establishment of "Madni Dastarkhawans" was inevitable to mitigate the plight of the low income segment of society. That report would be submitted to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif next week to make a final decision in that regard, the Chairman Cabinet Committee added.
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