Lahore   -  Special Assistant to Chief Minister and Punjab government’s spokesman Hasaan Khawar Saturday termed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Ehsaas Ration Programme – worth of Rs120 billion – a commendable step for welfare of the needy and deprived segments of the society.

Talking to media here, he said: “A monthly subsidy of Rs1,000 million will be given to 100 million individuals of 20 million families on flour, pulses and ghee in this six-month programmed.”

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ch Fawad Hussain and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Poverty Alleviation and Social Security Dr Sania Nashtar also participated in the briefing through video link.

Hasaan Khawar said that registration of families earning less than Rs31,000 per month would be started from Monday (November 9) for which a web portal would be set up. “Deserving families will be able to buy daily necessities such as flour, pulses and ghee at affordable prices from utility stores and retail shops,” he added.

He further stated that Ehsaas Socio-Economic Registration Survey had been completed which would be used to identify deserving families for the programme.

The SACM said that retail stores willing to get registered for the programme would be verified first. “These stores must have a bank account in order to receive the subsidy amount,” he added.

To the journalists’ queries, he said that out of the subsidy amounting to Rs120 billion, 65 per cent would be provided by the provinces and 35 per cent by the federal government.

He said that the government was fully aware of the problems being faced by the lower segments of society and was making serious efforts for their solution.