Sindh launches app to register NGOs for ration distribution

Needy daily-wagers to also register via an app to avoid duplication: CM

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced on Sunday the launch of an application for the registration of welfare organisations willing to join hands with the provincial government for distributing rations among the needy and daily wagers. He further said that those seeking rations too will have to get themselves registered online via an application.

Presiding over a meeting attended by the representatives of welfare organisations, the CM said that the application was named Sindh Relief Initiative Application. So far, 12 welfare organisations have registered themselves via the app.

"The Sindh Relief Initiative App has been developed so that all assistance can be delivered via a single platform, which will help ensure the fair and equal distribution of ration, and the needy will also be registered separately on the basis on their computerised national identity cards to avoid duplication," he explained.  Besides, the Sindh Relief Initiative App will be used for volunteer management, in addition to registering welfare organisations, he added.

"A technology-based mechanism will also be employed for data management and record keeping of the rations distributed," he said.

The CM told the meeting that according to the 2017 census, around 10 million people of the province's 50 million population were daily-wage workers and since such a large number of people were being affected by the lockdown, the Sindh government, with the support of welfare organisations, was committed to providing them ration.

Further elaborating, he said that of the 10 million daily-wage workers in the province, 25 per cent working in the construction industry and 35 per cent working in the textile and ancillary industry were covered by the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), but the 40 per cent working in small to medium sized enterprises, cottage industries, roadside shops and transport sector, were neither registered with the EOBI nor with the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution.

He said that the cost of giving each of the 1.4 million families of daily-wagers in the province a bag of rations worth Rs5,500 would be Rs7.7 billion.

Shah maintained that he was having a mechanism devised for the distribution of ration so that none of the needy persons were left out. He called for all government and non-government organisations to use the same mechanism and distribute rations via the same platform.

Expressing gratitude to welfare organisations extending support to the government for the purpose, the CM told the meeting that the distribution of rations had already been started and so far, around 200,000 people had been provided ration for 15 days.

He said that Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Shah and Adviser to the CM on Law Murtaza Wahab would be coordinating with welfare organisations for ration distribution.

Inter-provincial travel

He later took exception to people leaving for Punjab despite a ban on inter-provincial travel. "They then get stuck at the border," he said, dismayed by those flouting the ban.

"The Punjab government, after consulting with the Sindh government, has closed the border and those intending to leave for Punjab will not be allowed to enter the province," he elaborated, adding, "I will advise the people to not to leave their homes during these challenging times."

He said that all deputy commissioners had also been instructed to not allow any inter-district travel.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2020.