Rs144bn to be distributed among 12mn poor families during next two and half weeks: PM

• The prime minister said as Pakistan, when compared with rich counties in the world, lacked resources to tackle the big challenge of COVID-19, the youth and charity giving people of country would fill the gap of resources.
• Prime Minister Imran Khan said with a database of 80 to 90 million poor and deserving already developed by Dr Sania Nishtar, 35 million more people had applied for cash assistance through SMS (8171) service.
• He further said there was no lockdown in villages and the agriculture sector was already open to ensure the availability of food commodities in the country.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said the government would distribute a total of Rs 144 billion among 12 million poor families, affected by the ongoing lock-down in the wake of Coronavirus pandemic across the country, during the next two and half weeks.

The distribution of Rs 12000 per family, being started from Thursday under the unprecedented Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program, was aimed at reaching out to the poor and catering to their essential financial needs in this critical situation faced by the country and nation in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, he added.

The prime minister expressed these views while talking to media persons here after presiding over the meeting of National Coordination Committee (NCC).

Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Special Assistant to PM on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to PM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Dr. Sania Nishter, Special Assistant to PM on Youth Affairs Usman Dar and Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt. Gen. Muhammad Afzal were also present.

The prime minister assured that the whole process of distribution of money under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program was fully automated and transparent, and every effort had been to made to make it apolitical and merit-based.

He further said that a total of around 750,000 volunteers had so far got themselves registered with the Corona Relief Tiger Force, which would assist the government functionaries in reaching out to the poor in rural and urban areas and help identify the poor and needy families, affected by the Coronavirus situation.

The prime minister said as Pakistan, when compared with rich counties in the world, lacked resources to tackle the big challenge of COVID-19, the youth and charity giving people of country would fill the gap of resources.

He also urged the political workers including the members of national and provincial assemblies to participate in the Corona Relief Tiger Force.

Reiterating his appeal to the masses to understand the gravity of situation caused by the Coronavirus, the prime minister urged them to take preventive healthcare measures such as staying at homes, maintaining social distancing and avoid gatherings to check the spread of the deadly contagion.

He expressed his concern over the recent incident of a clash between police and young doctors in Quetta and said the government was taking every measure including the import of protection materials to ensure the provision of Personal Protection Equipments (PPEs) to doctors and health workers across the country.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said with a database of 80 to 90 million poor and deserving already developed by Dr Sania Nishtar, 35 million more people had applied for cash assistance through SMS (8171) service.

He said the cash assistance to poor families under the programme was non-political as it was being given purely on merit and through an automated data verification system with no human interface.

He said 17,000 points were being established across the country to facilitate the distribution of Rs 12,000 per family.

The prime minister said it was totally a wrong impression that the slow rate of COVID-19 spread with less mortality in Pakistan was due to strong immunity of the people and the attitude of carelessness in that regard could spread the epidemic on enhanced rate.

He said the carelessness of young and healthy people could threaten the lives of elderly and ailing, considered as vulnerable.

Imran Khan said as the country’s hospitals and healthcare facilities were not capable of catering to the large number of patients, the best option to tackle the challenge was prevention through various measures.

He, however, added that the government was working hard to strengthen the healthcare system by importing medical equipment and other materials, including the ventilators.

The prime minister said keeping in view the hardships faced by the people, especially the poor and daily-wagers due to the lockdown, which otherwise was important to check the spread of coronavirus, the government had decided to open the construction industry from April 14.

He further said there was no lockdown in villages and the agriculture sector was already open to ensure the availability of food commodities in the country.

The prime minister reiterated that with a mere $8 billion relief package announced by his government as against $2,000 billion by the United States, $1,000 billion each by Germany and Japan etc. to tackle the situation arising out of the coronavirus pandemic, Pakistan could only fight and win the war against COVID-19 through courage and unity as a nation.

The prime minister said arrangements were also being made to bring those Pakistani expatriates back home, who desired to come back due to the problems faced by them in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

Deliberations on the issue were being made at the forum of National Command and Operation Center (NCOP) on daily basis, he added.

Minister for Planning Asad Umar said as against the earlier decision of bringing the overseas Pakistanis back home through a flight operation from Islamabad, it had now been decided to operate such flights from other airports of the country as well.

He said those Pakistani expatriates would be flown back home, who were stuck and facing problems due to short-term visas or unemployment. Arrangements for their scanning and quarantine were being made and would be finalized by the next week, he added.

Special Assistant to the PM on Youth Affairs Usman Dar said the Corona Relief Tiger Force had received an overwhelming response from the youth and those  registered so far included around 500,000 from Punjab, 100,000 from Sindh, 90,000 from Khyber Pakhtukhwa, 10,000 from Balochistan, 8,000 from Azad Kashmir and 4,000 from Gilgit-Baltistan.

He said 2,500 doctors were among the registered volunteers in the Corona Relief Tigers, who would be assigned the healthcare duties at various places in coordination with the provinces and health departments.

Usman Dar said the members of national and provincial assemblies would be supervising and coordinating the activities of Corona Tigers at district and tehsil levels.

Special Assistant to the PM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Dr Sania Nishtar said the distribution of Rs 12,000 per family was based on three basic principles, including automation for selection of people, biometric verification for delivery of money and transparency.

She said as per the prime minister's direction, the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme was devised as a national programme and the distribution of Rs 12,000 each among the 12 million poor families was being made across the country.

Dr Sania Nishtar said a person applying for cash assistance through 8171 SMS service was declared eligible or otherwise only after the verification of his credentials, including the Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) number through 15 checks of databases.

She said in case of any problems faced by the applicants declared as eligible through return SMS, they could approach the authorities concerned by dialing the helpline 0800-26477.

NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal gave details of medical and protection equipment, including the ventilators provided to the provinces so far and the plans for further supply of such material.

Efforts were being made to import maximum ventilators despite their shortage in the international market, he added.