ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is scheduled to launch today (Wednesday) the second phase of payments to 4.27 million new Kafaalat beneficiaries—all women— who would be provided monthly cash assistance of Rs 2,000 on ‘continuing basis.’

The PM will be visiting the outskirts of Islamabad to witness Kafaalat enrolment and to interact with the new beneficiaries, an official statement said.

Presently, 4.27 million women beneficiaries are receiving Rs 2,000 monthly cash assistance while the federal government claims that this number would be increased to seven million and that the PM has already granted the related approval to increase the number of beneficiaries to seven million.

The new beneficiaries, whose number has not been mentioned, will be paid Rs 12,000 covering the period January - June 2021. Payments are made on quarterly basis (Rs 6,000 each beneficiary).

In November last year, the PM launched the first phase of payments to 4.27 million women beneficiaries under Ehsaas Kafaalat Programme.

In this regard, the PM visited a Kafaalat payment site in the federal capital to launch the payment process.

From this year, Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries will have the option of either drawing their money or saving money into digital wallets, the federal government has said adding that poorest women in Pakistan will have the option to “save their payments for the first time in the country’s history.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021