This is a welcome move as the Panah Gah project will benefit the homeless and needy
LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday, November 24, said that he had asked Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to set up tents for people sleeping on footpaths and provide them with food until the Panah Gahs (shelters) are built.
This is a welcome move as the Panah Gah project will benefit the homeless and needy. This is an exemplary initiative taken by this government. More shelter homes would be established in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as well.
It is indeed a admirable step in the long and arduous journey towards making Pakistan a welfare state. But to make it effective and sustainable in future too, a body comprising government officials and members of known welfare organisations such as the Edhi Trust should be made to oversee the project.
Moreover, the government should see that if these homeless people — most of whom beg for a livelihood — are fit and capable of working, they should be provided with training to be able to earn a living through proper means and become an active member of our workforce.
This is a giant step towards eradicating many social evil connected to homelessness and depravity of self-respect attached to it.
Dua Qasim
Published in The Express Tribune, November 28th, 2018.
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