PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Food and Irrigation Fazal Elahi has said that despite financial challenges the provincial government, as per directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has decided to announce a package worth Rs19.77 billion for provision of free flour to deserving people during Ramazan.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said that about 92 percent population of the province will benefit from the package. Caretaker Minister for Information Feroz Jamal Shah Kakakhel and Food Secretary Abid Wazir were also present at the press conference.

The provincial food minister said that bags with more than 17.2 million kilogrammes of flour will be distributed among the deserving families of the province during the holy month.

He added that under the initiative 5,750,000 families registered with the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) will be provided free flour by the authorities.

Elaborating on details of the Ramazan Relief Package, Abid Wazir said that over 7,600 kiosks/ centres would be established for the purpose, out of which 6,000 would be set up by the food department and the district administrations while the remaining 1,600 by the Utility Stores Corporation.

Under the package every deserving family will get three flour bags of 10kg and they will have to present original copies of their National Identity Cards; any member of the family may collect the bags.

Talking about eligibility for the package, the food secretary said that all the deserving families whose names are not registered with the BISP should visit their nearby office of the programme to register themselves within a period of 24 hours.

He added that any family can get information about eligibility for the initiative by sending their NIC numbers to Marastiyal App from online play store.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023