Chairing the first meeting of Ehsas Steering Committee here at the PM Office, he said in the past there had been lack of coordination between the federal and provincial levels in initiating such programmes resulting in wastage of resources at one side while most of the time deserving people were also deprived of their rights.
The prime minister said keeping in view reservations of various circles about the number of poor people, the present government decided to conduct a fresh poverty survey so that correct information could be tabulated.
She directed for concluding the process of poverty survey as soon as possible. He said the high-level steering committee in that regard had been formed to control lack of coordination at the federal and provincial levels, besides the step could ensure balanced implementation of this comprehensive programme at the federal and provincial levels keeping in view local requirements at the provincial levels.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, Planning Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Advisor on Finance Dr Abdul Hafiz Shaikh, Special Assistant for Social Protection Dr Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant Yusuf Baig Mirza, Special Assistant Nadeem Afzal Chan, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeez ur Rehman, Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee for Finance Asad Umar, senior representatives of Sindh and Balochistan provinces and high officials.
Dr Sania Nishtar briefed the participants about the steps taken by the government regarding the ‘Ehsas Programme’ for social protection of vulnerable sections of the society.
She said the focus of the meeting was to consolidate all federal and provincial social protection programmes under a single framework.
The social protection was one of the key areas of the overall vision of the prime minister, she added.