Karachi: The Sindh government has reserved a sum of Rs 15.6 billion to help 7.8 million low-income families in the province purchase wheat flour amid an unprecedented hike in the prices of essential food products during Ramadan.
These families are enrolled in the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) of the federal government. Each of the families is going to receive Rs 2,000 under this Ramadan-related relief initiative.
Talking to media persons, Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, said the beneficiary families of the BISP having scored from one to 60 on the poverty scorecard would receive special assistance from his government. The poverty score from one to 60 means that the total monthly income of the prospective beneficiary family shouldn’t exceed Rs 55,000.
He said that any family having a monthly income of less than Rs 55,000 and not registered with the BISP could contact the nearest office present in every town of the province for getting special aid from the provincial government.
Shah told journalists that the BISP officials had been asked to speedily process cases of such applicants so as to determine their suitability for the special monetary support of the Sindh government.
He said that Rs 2,000 support to be received by each family would nearly halve their expense during Ramadan on purchasing wheat flour.
He informed media persons that the value of this special assistance had been determined on the basis of the assumption that each family would consume nearly 30 kilograms of flour during Ramadan.
He said his government would make sure that the price of wheat flour during Ramadan would not exceed Rs 130 per kilogram.
The Sindh government’s spokesman, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, said that around 3.8 million out of over 7.8 million targeted families would receive the financial assistance in the current week. The remaining families will receive the money in early April. Out of the total beneficiary families, over 2.2 million underprivileged households belong to Karachi.
