STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday announced that 12 million families will start getting Rs12,000 per month from today (Thursday) to provide financial assistance to the people affected by the coronavirus lockdown. Addressing a joint press conference in Islamabad, PM Imran said that the money will be provided purely on merit to the deserving families under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme, adding that around 17,000 points have been set up across the country for the cash distribution. He maintained that the process of awarding cash worth 144 billion rupees to 12 million deserving families will be completed within next two-and-a-half weeks. PM Imran urged the people to understand gravity of the Coronavirus situation and demonstrate responsibility by adopting all necessary precautionary measures to contain the virus. The prime minister maintained that the Ehsas programme was free of any political influence as the data was collected digitally. Imran Khan said that the “biggest problem” now is how to provide relief to society’s weakest section. He went on to say that the Corona Tigers Relief Force has two main purposes: to identify people who are needy and to identify people who need to be put under quarantine. “The force volunteers will try to locate people who are unable to register through SMS for the cash disbursement programme,” he said. Khan further said that the gathering of people in one place is a dangerous thing, adding that the people are not following restrictions in many areas. “Coronavirus is “very dangerous” for the elderly and sick people,” he added. Prime Minister Imran Khan warned people that the coronavirus is not going away any time soon. “This is not something that will go away in two or three weeks, this will go on for some time.” The premier said that the country does not have the resources to deal with the pandemic on a large scale and the government would need to take “tough decisions”. “There is no question of any political affiliation in this fund,” he declared, adding that he wanted everyone to take part in the relief programme initiated by the government and register with the Corona Tigers Relief Force. He said that the government “needed your (public’s) money and manpower” as it was low on resources and had to cater to a large population. Prime Minister Imran informed the media that the volunteers of Corona Tigers Relief Force had been instructed to help people who had not been able to send their NIC numbers to register for the emergency cash fund. Prime Minister Imran once again urged the nation to continue practicing social distancing, warning that failure to do so would lead the infection to spread at a faster rate and burden the healthcare system. He repeated that Pakistan cannot afford a complete lockdown, which was imposed in China or European countries and asked people to take precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus. “No government can go in streets to tell people to stay indoors, police cannot beat or imprison people for going out.
You have to take care of yourselves for your own sake,” he said. The prime minister said that when news of the coronavirus outbreak first surfaced, it was Pakistan’s aim to procure enough medical equipment at the outset that the hospitals are not overwhelmed. Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was “so disappointed” by the police violence against protesting doctors in Balochistan. He said the frontline healthcare workers are doing jihad against the coronavirus and that they need personal protective equipment and ventilators. He expressed regret at the clashes of doctors with the police as they protested the non-availability of personal protective equipment. “That’s why all of you must know what the federal government has been doing and what it plans to do in the days to come.” Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar said the government has received over 30.5 million SMS on 8171 for financial assistance under Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme. Dr Sania said that the federal government will engage provinces in the Ehsaas Cash Programme. “It is important to provide a level playing field for all provinces so we will engage them in the programme.” Dr Sania Nishtar, the head of the Ehsaas Programme, told the media that the National Identity Card numbers being sent to the government through text messages on 8171, had passed through several stages so that the government can be sure that they qualify for the programme. She explained that only one member of a family will receive a message even if multiple members of the family had sent their NIC numbers. The data, Nishtar said, was being cross-checked with the information in Nadra’s database. She added that those families, whose heads had passed away but their death had not been registered, could call on the 0800-26477 helpline to get assistance. “Funds distribution will be done on the basis of biometric verification,” she said, explaining that this way no one will be be able take advantage of funds allocated for someone else, such as if there had been a card system.
