All necessary arrangements have been completed for the fair issuance of ration cards to deserving people to help them buy essential items at reduced rates from the Utility Stores outlets.
"We have finalised the criteria for the scheme which will be presented to the Prime Minister for approval on Thursday and after that the cards would be issued", Managing Director of Utility Stores Corporation (USC), Brigadier Hafeez Ahmed, told APP on Wednesday.
He said that the ration cards scheme had been launched to facilitate the poor, and it has been ensured that cards would be issued only to the needy. "The scheme has been initiated on the directives of President and Prime Minister to provide relief to the low-income people, and the cards will be issued according to the lists of Bait-ul-Mall and Zakat Committees", he said.
He said that under the directives of Prime Minister a committee consisting of representatives from Ministry of Food, Ministry of Social Welfare, Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal and other related ministries had finalised the methodology for issuance of ration cards. He said that after getting approval from the Prime Minister the scheme would be launched according to the announced date of February 8.
Hafeez said the USC would continue its routine operations, and added that the provision of ration cards did not mean that there was food shortage in the country. To a query he said that the expansion programme of Utility Stores at the union council level was going on successfully and it would be completed by the end of next month.