Khidmat card: Welfare programme kicks-off

Commissioner says initiative will allow physically-challenged to become productive citizens

BAHAWALPUR: The Punjab Khidmat Card Programme kicked-off on Tuesday in Bahawalpur with the distribution of the cards among 45 select physically-challenged individuals at a ceremony.

Bahawalpur Commissioner Saqib Zafar said cards would be distributed among over 20,000 physically-challenged people across the division. He said Rs75million-financial aid would be disbursed every three months. Zafar said the physically challenged would be provided training under the Punjab Skills Development Programme according to their abilities. He said the initiative had been taken to ensure that such individuals had the capability to secure their livelihoods in a befitting manner.

Zafar said the “great welfare initiative” conceived by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would allow the physically-challenged to become productive citizens. The commissioner said that Islam furthered the message of taking great care of the physically-challenged. He said it was a known fact that the differently-abled had greater abilities than those normal.

The commissioner said it was binding on everyone to take great care of the physically-challenged and accord them due respect. He said the cards had been distributed among such individuals with tremendous respect and counters had been established across tehsil headquarters in this regard.

Provincial Assembly Member (MPA) Karim Pirzada said while the steps taken by the government for the welfare of the differently-abled were laudable, people across the spectrum should strive in this regard. Pirzada said beneficiaries’ records had been obtained from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to ensure transparency in the programme. He said any citizens who had been left out in this regard should immediately get themselves registered at counters established at the tehsil-level.

MPA Haseena Begum, DCO Imran Sikander Baloch and physically-challenged people from Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan Districts were also present at the ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2015.