Corona Relief Tiger Force enters Sindh

Special Assistant on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar announced on Wednesday the services of Corona Relief Tiger Force for Sindh, setting aside the strong resistance from the provincial government.

Addressing a press conference here, Usman Dar said that Prime Minister Imran Khan tasked Sindh Governor Imran Ismail to lead the force from today (Thursday).

As the Sindh government did not agree to allow services of volunteers of the Tiger Force, therefore, the federal government decided to put the force under control of Governor Sindh, he explained.

He further said that one million volunteers of Tiger Force would continue carrying out their responsibilities in Pakistan for one year.

At least 154,000 volunteers were selected to discharge responsibilities in Sindh, who include, engineers, doctors and a large number of youth, he added.

In the first phase, Dar said they would be involved with managements of Ehsaas Programme and Utility Stores in distribution of cash and food items.

Dar said that volunteers would identify the problems being faced by the people.

However, they will not take action, he added.

Dar said the Sindh government is creating an impression that the federal government is not willing to work together, which is not true.

"The Tiger Force will only perform tasks given to it and will not indulge in any other matters," he stated.

Earlier yesterday, Dar met Prime Minister Imran Khan and discussed with him deployment of Corona Relief Tiger Force in Sindh.

He said that the Sindh government took a U-turn by announcing that it would not include "Prime Minister's Corona Tiger Force" in the relief campaign in the province.

He said that PPP was not ready to debate in National Assembly the flaws in the 18th Constitutional Amendment and its 10-year performance in health.

He said a private TV channel in Sindh had to face a strong reaction for telecasting a programme about fund released in the health sector of the province.

He said in Punjab and KP, there were 93,000 and 19,000 Tiger Force volunteers, respectively.

Negating the impression that there was no need of Tiger Force during lockdown, he said the force was supporting other departments in ration distribution.

The Tiger Force had played a vital role in implementing SOPs designed for mosques, and quarantine centres, he said.

The volunteers also identified hoarders in various localities, according to him.

He further announced that the Tiger Force would ensure implementation of SOPs set for Eid prayers.

This one million-strong human resource would be deployed according to the requirements of district administrations, he maintained.

They would act as a supportive arm to civilian administration and police in enforcing SOPs during the lockdown situations.

He said around 115,000 volunteers had been deployed in various districts and their number would increase after Eid holidays.

He said that under the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES), the lending amount was increased from Rs5 million to Rs25 million. The interest rate would be brought down from 6 to 8 percent to 3 to 5 percent after Eid. He claimed that 1,000 companies were given financial support.