The government has expanded the “Ehsaas Koi Bhooka Na Soy (EKBNS)” program across the country and deployed some 24 food trucks in various cities to facilitate around 1.5 million people during the last month.
Talking to media, focal person Panagah’s Naseem ur Rehman said ‘Ehsaas Koye Bhooka Na Soye’ (EKBNS) was a new policy initiative of the federal government to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in the country.
“The initiative is an extension of Ehsaas Langar Policy and aims to distribute cooked meal at designated delivery points to people in need especially those at risk of or experiencing hunger,” Rehman said.
Meals, he said were delivered free of charge through food truck arrangements, where many of the EKBNS recipients were hailing from the labor class including elderly, differently-abled, poor workers, daily wage earners, women, and children who lacked access to Ehsaas Langar sites in industrial zones and bus stations.
This program has been designed in a public-private partnership model whereby Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal was responsible for the operations of the food trucks and Saylani Welfare International Trust had the task to ensure the provision of meals.
To a query, he informed that around 210,000 passengers and homeless people had benefitted from Panagahs (Shelter Homes) during the last year.
The shelter homes have provided nutritious food to around 3.6 million people in Panahgahs during the last year.
In addition to Panagahs, the focal person said a large number of Langar Khanas (food centers) were serving nutritious and hygienic food to the poor and daily wage earners.
