Daily Times

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Dr Sania Nishtar Thursday announced that a web portal to register families under the new initiative of Ehsaas Rashan will open from November 8.

“Realizing the difficulties of the common people amid inflation, the Ehsaas Rashan program is being launched after a thorough planning including field testing, proof of concept, piloting and technology measures”, the SAPM said while addressing a press conference here.

The program will benefit 20 million families and overall 130 million people nationwide including those already registered under the Kafalat program.

The beneficiaries will be identified with the help of the new Ehsaas National Socio Economic Registry (NSER) Survey, she said.

She said Ehsaas Rashan Program will provide a subsidy of Rs1,000 per month to each of the 20 million families on the purchase of flour, pulses, ghee or cooking oil. Those who want to get benefit from this program must have their valid registered mobile numbers with their Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC), she stressed.

The registered buyers will be able to purchase Rashan from the designated kiryana or utility stores on 30 percent subsidy after issuance of Rashan cards to them.

The list of eligible people for availing this benefit will be displayed within three or four weeks after scrutinizing process with the help of Ehsaas database while the Kiryana stores will be registered meanwhile, she said.

Ehsaas has developed a digitally enabled mobile point of sale system in collaboration with National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to serve beneficiaries through a network of kiryana stores all over the country.

About the procedure, Dr. Sania conveyed that the Kiryana merchants will require downloading the relevant app on their android phones, enter CNIC numbers of the customers and pass on the benefits after authentication from back end immediately.

The customer will receive a verification code which would be entered by Kiryana merchant in the app. “Such system has been developed to prevent corruption and abuse”, she said.

Dr Sania hoped that this system will be functional within three to four weeks soon after the completion of registration process.