Over 23 million families from across Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the federal capital benefitted from the free wheat flour scheme under the Ramazan Package announced by the government for relief of the inflation-stricken people.
A couple of weeks before the holy month of Ramazan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that the government would distribute free wheat flour among the 18.5 million families of Punjab and 185,000 households in the federal capital.
Prior to the launch, the prime minister held frequent meetings with the relevant authorities to ensure hassle-free and fair distribution of flour among the entitled people during the month of fasting. As per the prime minister’s directives, the authorities concerned made elaborate arrangements for the facilitation of the beneficiaries. Besides waiting rooms, special information desks were set up to guide the people regarding their eligibility as well as the distribution process. Starting from the 25th of Shaban, the scheme continued till last week of the holy month. In Punjab, the flour distribution was carried out through 8,500 Utility Stores as well as around 20,000 flour distribution points set up across the province.
According to the Punjab government data, around 43.93 million flour bags were distributed across Punjab benefiting 17.69 million households. The distribution of free flour in Punjab was not merely limited to the residents of the province rather those from KP, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan but living in Punjab, were also facilitated. Similarly, around 5.23 million families of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa benefitted from the government’s welfare scheme, achieving over 90 percent of the set target.
To ensure transparency of the scheme and proper facilitation of the beneficiaries, the prime minister made unannounced visits of the flour distribution points across the province including Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Lahore.—APP
