Helping hand: 50 artistes from Karachi receive endowment fund cheques

KARACHI:

Sindh culture minister Sharmila Farooqi gave endowment fund cheques to around 50 artistes belonging to Karachi during a press conference at Mumtaz Mirza Studio on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference, Farooqi said that her department had invested Rs200 million the endowment fund and is now distributing the amount of interest gained against the investment. She said that the committee, which comprises only three members from the culture department including herself, is trying its best to utilise this fund in the right direction.



According to Farooqi, the fund is given to needy artistes who fulfil the criteria set for the purpose. She mentioned that so far, 526 artistes had been given a total of Rs32.6 million through the endowment fund. A sum of Rs13.25 million has been set aside for distribution among 170 beneficiaries of the Sindh province. In its 12th meeting, the endowment fund committee will decide who will receive the rest of the cheques.

Countering accusations of the media about the embezzlement of funds, she said that the endowment fund committee was working sincerely and if any of the members were found guilty, the committee will resign. Farooqi added that all the cheques were crossed and all relevant information had been uploaded on the culture department’s website.

Later, cheques were distributed among artistes Mehmood Khan, Shehnaz, Abdullah Panhwer, Mushtaque Hussain, Gulzar Hussain, Saleem Shahzad, Mir Mohammad Lakho, Syed Mohsin Raza, Shahid Rana, Suraiya Shafique, Mohammad Umer Qureshi, Abdul Ghani, Noor Mohammad, Aamna, Zaqqiya Sultana, Usman Khalifa, Manthar Ali, Arshad Ali, Khursheed Ahemd, Mumtaz Aasma Sahito, Iftikhar Hussain Shah, Mohammad Aslam Bhutto, Nasreen Naz, Nawaz Hussain, Najma Kawish, Ghulam Mohammad Chandio and others. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2014.