Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has decided in principle to launch a Food Card Programme in the upcoming annual budget. The chief minister has directed the quarters concerned to take necessary steps to finalize the proposed Food Card Programme till the budget of the new fiscal year. Under the proposed Food Card Program, it is initially proposed to provide free of cost wheat flour or provision of four basic food items at subsidized rates to the deserving households. Approximately one million households and over 5.00 million individuals will benefit from the Programme. The Chief Minister has taken this decision while chairing a meeting of the food department held here on Thursday. Special Assistant to CM on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, Secretary Finance Ikramullah Khan and Secretary Food Mushtaq Ahmad and other relevant officials of food department attended the meeting. The meeting was briefed in detail about the preliminary sketch and features of the proposed Food Card Programme, registration of deserving households, estimated cost, implementation mechanism and other various aspects of the programme. The meeting also reviewed the various proposals for providing basic food items to deserving households on subsidized rates under the proposed program. The chief minister has directed the quarters concerned to submit workable proposals for approval to this effect. He also directed the food department to finalize the list of deserving households for the purpose. Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that he was fully aware of the problems of people due to current inflation in the country, adding that the incumbent government was taking solid steps to curtail the burden of inflation on the general public. He said that the provincial government was making a plan to give significant relief to deserving households of the province in the budget of next fiscal year.