AS the economic situation is heading towards improvement, Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken a big decision to launch a ration scheme under which a fixed amount will be provided to deserving families to purchase essential commodities including flour, sugar and ghee. The program will be executed under the umbrella of Ehsaas Program which has already started a number of good initiatives for the poor people.
The success of ration scheme will greatly depend as to how government executes it and that too transparently. In the past one has seen how cash grants under the BISP were misused. Now a new poverty survey is being carried out to enroll the deserving households. Concerned authorities should complete the poverty survey at the earliest and that too whilst keeping the politics aside so that poor people can genuinely take advantage of pro-poor initiatives of the government including the ration scheme. As regards the ration scheme, Government has at its disposal a huge network of Utility Stores and a mechanism can be evolved to provide essential commodities to the deserving families at subsidized rates at these utility outlets.
It has been seen that government is launching such schemes without allocating any budget for them. The government had established Panahgahs in the federal capital and two provinces — Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — and this idea of PM Imran Khan was also widely hailed but the regrettable part is that no budget was allocated for them.. It is believed that it has become difficult to run these homes on a long-term basis by the local authorities if the government does not provide funds for them. Chairperson of Ehsaas Program Dr Sania Nishtar really deserves appreciation for coming up with a series of initiatives aimed at uplifting the poor people but what is required is the right approach and adequate funds to make them successful. Then most importantly, the recent price hike has also badly hit the middle income group. It is important that relief is also provided to them especially in the utility bills. A mechanism needs to be put in place to protect the people from the cruel hands of profiteers and hoarders.
