PM Shehbaz launches Rs20b Ramadan package for deserving families

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday launched Rs20 Ramazan package for 4 million deserving families across the country, benefitting about 20 million people. 

Addressing the launching ceremony, the prime minister said that a total of 4 million deserving families comprising about two crore people would get relief from this package which would be distributed in the first ten days of the holy month. 

Each family through digital wallets would get Rs5,000, he said, expressing his satisfaction that the price hike had been reduced this year when compared with the previous figures during the holy month of Ramazan. 

“This year, an amount of Rs20 billion has been allocated for the purpose. The relief amount last year was Rs7 billion,” he added.  

The prime minister also lauded all the relevant authorities and institutions including ministries, State Bank of Pakistan, NADRA, BISP and tech companies who worked day and night to devise a digital mechanism. The federal government’s initiative would benefit all parts of the country through a well-devised digital system, he added.  

He also expressed his gratitude to the foreign partners for their partnership and support in this noble cause and appreciated their commitment and valuable contributions.  

The prime minister said that billions of rupees of the poor nation had been stuck up in litigation for years and expressed the resolve of the government to get expeditious decisions over Rs500 billion cases pending for adjudication in various courts. 

He said corruption was being dealt with iron hands. During their previous interim government’s tenure, the banks had made windfall profits over fluctuation of dollar rates and got stay orders from the court when the government introduced a legislation in this regard.  

Referring to a decision of the recent Sindh High Court, he said Rs23 billion were recovered from the disposal of a stay case. 

The prime minister termed the corruption in the Utility Stores Corporation as ‘worst one’ and said that it was being privatized, ending public agonies with a very proactive digital system like the one just launched.  

He also reiterated to close down other government’s entities running into losses.  

The prime minister expressed his deep grief over a terrorist attack on Maulana Hamid ul Haq at Madrassa Haqqania in which Maulana Haq had embraced martyrdom.  

He said that Madrassa Haqqania was a renowned center of Islamic studies, and yesterday’s terrorist incident was heart-wrenching and highly condemnable.  

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would immediately bring the perpetrators to book, he said, adding in the year 2018, terrorism was eliminated from the country, and in that fight about 80,000 Pakistanis had laid down their lives, including security forces officers and jawans and all segments of society. 

Unfortunately, he said the specter raised its head in the recent times and everyone knew the reasons. With the unmatched sacrifices of the security forces and nation’s support, they would eliminate terrorism forever and would not rest till its complete eradication, he added. 

Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, in his remarks, said the programme was sanctioned in twenty days in which all the relevant authorities played a significant part, enabling them to launch the initiative in the holy month.  

He said foolproof mechanism would ensure swift transfer of amount to 4 million deserving families all over the country. 

Moreover, a total of 600 stalls were being set up at the tehsil level to provide sugar at subsidized price of Rs130 kg.