Helping hand: Zakat council approves scholarships worth Rs50.25m

Rs20.42 million approved for general education scholarships

LAHORE: The Provincial Zakat Council on Monday approved a Rs50.25 million grant for providing formal and religious education scholarships.

The grant was approved at the 161st meeting of the council presided over by Provincial Zakat Council Chairman Justice (r) Akhtar Hassan. Zakat and Ushr Secretary Habibur Rehman Gillani, Zakat Administrator Muhammad Yousaf Butt, Deputy Administrator Rana Muhammad Sajjad Babar and council members Saeed Ahmed Ansari, Muhammad Azhar Farooqui and Tanveer Kausar attended the meeting.

The meeting approved Rs20.42 million for district zakat committees to provide scholarships to 4,823 students at 136 educational institutions in 15 districts.

A Rs20.83 million grant was approved for 892 religious seminaries in 12 districts; 12,329 students will benefit from it.

Gillani said that the district zakat committees concerned should submit applications before the deadline in order to ensure timely release of the amounts.

The meeting decided that the amount to be distributed under the head of general education scholarship be distributed through mobile banking.

The meeting also decided to increase financial assistance for deserving people under a self-employment scheme from Rs200,000 to Rs300,000. Members of the council also discussed matters related to provision of rickshaws and sewing machines to the unemployed. Initially, 70 rickshaws and sewing machines worth Rs10 million would be distributed in nine districts – Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Multan, Sahiwal, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2016.