Says collaborative measures being taken to strengthen coordination
Special Assistant to Prime Minister and Senator Dr. Sania Nishtar on Monday said that collaborative measures were being taken to strengthen coordination to refine the overall quality of Ehsaas Payment operation. She was chairing a meeting alongwith Additional Chief Secretary Saqib Zafar, here at South Punjab Secretariat.
The meeting was attended by officers from different departments including district administrations, Law and Enforcement Agencies, partnering bank and regional officers of Ehsaas from across South Punjab. The meeting was aimed to discuss coordinated steps to improve the quality of Ehsaas Kafaalat payments in field.
It was also agreed that 20 more payment campsites would be organized to facilitate Ehsaas payments in all 11 districts of South Punjab. “Today’s stakeholder meeting has provided us with deep insights on improving Ehsaas payments in South Punjab. We have discussed collaborative measures around how to strengthen coordination to refine the overall quality of Ehsaas payment operations”, said Dr. Sania.
She added, with the disbursement of new Kafaalat tranche of Rs. 71 billion that commenced on March 7, 2022, the six-monthly stipend amount of Ehsaas Kafaalat has been increased from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 14,000 each, for all beneficiaries. Also, families whose children are enrolled in Ehsaas School Stipends, are also getting the higher amounts. Ehsaas Programme authorities is also taking coordinated actions to deal strictly with fraudulent deductions, most of which are reported from South Punjab and Sindh.
Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Regional Police Officers, District Police Offers and senior officers from FIA, and Anti-corruption Establishment from Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur Divisions of South Punjab assured full support to improve the operations of Ehsaas disbursements.
Dr. Sania also thanked the district administrations and Law and Enforcement Agencies for their continued support in executing Ehsaas disbursement operations across 42 Tehsils of South Punjab. “To-date, 66% of the total 1.3 million Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries in South Punjab have been served the payments for January to June 2022. Besides, 2.1 million children have been registered for Ehsaas School Stipends in the region, informed Dr Sania.
