By Minahil Makhdoom
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar Friday announced that applicants of Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program (category 2 and 3) would receive the final SMS regarding payment of the amount or rejection based on their eligibility within the next 15 days.
“SMS will be sent to all the applicants of receiving payments or rejection within 15 days
to complete payment process early to avoid social interaction considering the upcoming crucial weeks regarding Coronavirus intensity†, she said during a media briefing along with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader, Dr. Shahbaz Gill.
Those who will not receive the SMS of collecting their payments must fall under the category of government employees or those having travel history, exceeding PTCL bills, possessing cars etc.
Dr. Nishtar said the applicants must avoid unnecessary visits to the payment centers who had not received message of collecting their payments.
She said the condition of renewal of expired Computerized National Identity Cards had been withdrawn to facilitate the beneficiaries.
The offices of National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) will open from Tuesday which would facilitate the three to four percent beneficiaries who were facing problems in their bio-metric verification, she added.
Dr. Nishtar said this was the first ever welfare initiative in the history following complete transparency in identifying the deserving people and disbursing assistance.
She said over 18,00,000 existing beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Program were expelled due to having government jobs. While around 10,000 were expelled in a recent move, she added.
She said those who raise questions over the transparency of this program must know this fact that still majority of the BISP beneficiaries belong from Sindh followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
Dr. Sania Nishtar said Ehsaas Information Portal had been launched with an aim to ensure transparency in the program.
She said the information portal would have all the information about amount disbursement at federal and provincial level.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Shahbaz Gill said the federal government had taken all the stakeholders on board while taking the decision regarding opening of mosques.
Religious scholars were custodian of the mosques so it was important to take them onboard in this important decision, he added.
He said Ehsaas was the flagship programme of the present government and was very near to the heart of Prime Minister Imran Khan. So every possible measure was being taken to provide its benefits to the most deserving people with utmost sincerity, he said.
