-Says all stakeholders to be taken into confidence for census
-Told Pakistan on track to surpass last year’s production statistics of major crops
By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said that the government was cognizant of the problems faced by the poor due to inflation and stressed that targeted subsidies should be provided to the under-privileged segments of the society.
The prime minister said that Kamyab Pakistan, Sehat Sahulat Cards and Ehsaas were the flagship programmes of the government aimed at poverty alleviation and social uplift of the lower segments of the society. The prime minister expressed these views during a briefing given by Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation Dr. Sania Nishtar about the provision of targeted subsidies to the eligible families under the umbrella of Ehsaas programme.
The briefing was also attended by Minister for Finance Shukat Fayaz Tarin, Minister for Defense Pervaiz Khattak, Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry, SAPM Dr. Shehbaz Gill, Governor State Bank Dr. Raza Baqir, President National Bank and senior officers.
The prime minister directed that a comprehensive awareness programme should be launched to inform the masses as to how targeted subsidies could be availed. The meeting was apprised that Ehsaas programme had developed a mobile app in collaboration with National Bank of Pakistan.
This application would be used by vendors to provide subsidized items to eligible Ehsaas beneficiaries throughout the country.
It was informed that due care has been taken to eliminate chances of misuse of targeted subsidies under the Ehsaas programme.The premier was also told that the country was on the path of easily surpassing the previous year’s production statistics of major wheat, rice, sugarcane and maize crops recorded at 27.5 Million Tons (MT), 8.4 MT, 81 MT and 8.4 MT, respectively.
The Prime Minister was told this by Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, who called on him here and apprised him of the encouraging trends so far regarding the production of wheat, rice, sugarcane and maize crops. He was told that by September 30, 2021 Pakistan has achieved the production of 38.5 million cotton bales, which was higher from 27 million bales realized in the corresponding period of previous year.
The Prime Minister appreciated the performance of the Ministry of National Food Security, which was determined to achieve the record export targets of mangoes and citrus fruit at 150,000 tons and 463,000 tons, respectively. He also appreciated the efforts of officials concerned for achieving the historic growth and export targets in agriculture sector.
