The government on Tuesday announced a Ramazan Relief Package worth Rs 5 billion to provide maximum relief to the poor segment of society during the holy month of Ramazan across the country.
Addressing a press conference, Minister for Industries and Production Syed Murtaza Mahmud said that the first priority of the federal government is to save the people from hardships and inflation.
He said that the package has come into force from Tuesday (March 21) and would continue till the last day of the holy month. The Federal Government, he said, is already providing five basic food items to the public at subsidized rates through the Utility Stores Corporation.
In order to facilitate the public, the Prime Minister has extended the scope of the relief package by increasing the number of subsidized items to 19.
The items to be provided at subsidized rates include flour, ghee, sugar, cooking oil, tea, dates, besan, daal mash, daal mong, milk, drinks, and spices.
Giving details about the package the USC official said that to make the process of obtaining subsidy more simple and transparent it has been divided into two parts, targeted and general.
He said that the targeted subsidy will be only for the users registered under the Benazir Income Support Pro gram while the people of the entire country will benefit from the general subsidy.
Under targeted subsidy flour is available at Rs 400 per 10 kg bag, sugar at Rs 70 per kg and ghee at Rs 300 per kg.
While under general subsidy, a 10 kg bag of flour is available at Rs.648, sugar at Rs. 91 per kg and ghee at Rs.490 per kg. The USC also provides a subsidy of Rs 20 on the white gram, super basmati rice, sella rice and broken rice.
Subsidy on gram flour is Rs.50 per kg and a 10% discount will also be given on spices. A subsidy of Rs 100 per kg on tea, Rs 50 per kg on dates, Rs 30 per liter on milk and Rs 30 per bottle on beverages will be given, he added.
