ISLAMABAD - Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on Wednesday informed the Senate Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) was striving to revive tourism industry of Pakistan adding that National Tourism Board was also set up to promote tourism.
Replying to various questions during Question Hour, the minister said PTDC has taken significant steps to promote local attractions through a website / e-portal.
PTDC has a plan to develop a new website / e-portal that would highlight tourist attractions and promotes positive image of the country both at national and international levels, he said. He said the website / e-portal would have pictures, videos, information about tourist spots, cultural, archaeological and historical sites etc. with the purpose to gain attraction of tourists.
To another question, the minister said Pakistan Bait-u1-Mal was a public sector social safety net of the Federal Government working under the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division. It was established through an Act of Parliament in 1991 to provide financial assistance to destitute, widows, orphans, infirm and other needy persons, he said.
He said in line with the provisions of the Act, PBM was executing an Individual Financial Assistance (IFA) scheme to provide monetary assistance to the marginalized segments of the society for health care, education and general assistance.
He said PBM provided financial assistance upto Rs.1.000 million to the indigent sick persons for treatment of chronic diseases through government hospitals through IFA (Medical).
Similarly, he said PBM provided financial assistance upto Rs. 100,000/- per annum per student, to the deserving students, admitted in government institutes for payment of institutional dues. Similarly, financial assistance of Rs.10,000/- per annum was provided to a family having one disable member and Rs.25,000/- per annum, as financial assistance to a family having more than one disable member throughout life. Ali Muhammad Khan said a total of 1,571 wheel chairs had been distributed among disable persons since July, 2019 to March, 2020.