'Zakat fund be paid through branchless banking, Telenor Easypaisa'

Provincial Minister for Zakat & Usher Nadeem Kamran has said that payment of Zakat fund will be made to the Mustahkeen through branchless banking and Telenor Easypaisa has been selected for this purpose. This decision has been taken to save deserving people from the problems in opening bank account and encashment of cheques, he added. Initially a pilot project will be started in this regard in three districts including Lahore, Sheikhupura and Hafizabad while later scope of this scheme will be extended to all districts.
He was speaking at the signing ceremony of MoU between Provincial Zakat & Ushr Department and Telenor regarding distribution of Zakat through Easypaisa among Mustahkeen at a local hotel here on Sunday.
Secretary Zakat & Ushr Habib Ur Rehman Gillani, Administrator Zakat Muhammad Yousaf Butt, Director Business Services Telenor Shahzad Najam, Vice President Yahya Khan CEO Tameer Bank Nadeem Hussain, Vice President Aslam Hayat and a large number of people were present. The Minister said that branchless banking will help in speedy and easy distribution of Zakat among the deserving persons and they would be able to collect this amount from their nearest Easypaisa shops. He said that a new process of Zakat distribution will be ensured transparency and elimination of corruption.
Nadeem Kamran further said that department has decided to enhance the amount of subsistence allowance from 500 to 1000 rupees per person while Zakat will be paid to Mustahkeen after every three months in lump sum. He said that it has also been decided to increase marriage grant for the deserving girls from 10000 to 20000 rupees. He said that Zakat and Usher Department provides financial help of billions of rupees to Mustahkeen and lakhs of people benefit from it every year.
The Minister said that under the old procedure Zakat was paid through cross cheque by local Zakat committees and sometimes this process was delayed due to different reasons whereas under the new system, Zakat will be paid timely and the deserving persons will not have to go to local chairman of Zakat committee.
Earlier, Secretary Zakat & Usher Habib Ur Rehman Gillani and officials of Telenor Easypaisa also addressed the ceremony and assured the Minister of their complete co-operation.