Coronavirus crisis: Sindh govt stops ration distribution among poor people

• Officials say government had allocated more than one billion rupees for the purpose and provided relief to 0.5 million people.
• All the funds and ration had been utilized: Sindh govt.

(Karachi) Sindh government has stopped distribution of ration to deserving and poor people affected by coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown, media reported on Sunday.

The provincial government officials said the government had allocated more than one billion rupees for the purpose and provided relief to 0.5 million people. However, they claimed that all the funds and ration had been utilized.

They stated that ration will be distributed after receiving more funds.

Earlier, the provincial government denied that it released Rs8 billion for purchase and distribution of ration bags among the people affected by coronavirus pandemic.

The Sindh government had submitted a comprehensive report in the Supreme Court stating that fake news about release of fund was a nefarious attempt to malign the PPP led provincial government and to undermine its actions to control the spread of the deadly virus, provide medical care to the affected persons and to mitigate the effects of lockdown.

The report said the government has so far released two financial tranches for procurement and distribution of ration bags – one of Rs580 million released on March 26 and the other of Rs500 million released on April 6. This makes the total amount released to be Rs1.080 billion, the report mentioned.