Sindh govt allocates Rs20b to help those suffering due to pandemic

Cash transfers under pro-poor initiative to begin in September

KARACHI:

The Sindh government would start cash transfers to the needy who had suffered due to the coronavirus pandemic in September, said Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, adding that to serve the purpose, the government had allocated Rs20 billion in the budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Presiding over a meeting of the steering committee to oversee the implementation of the 'Pro-Poor Social Protection and Economic Sustainability Initiatives' on Tuesday, Shah maintained that the provincial government had earmarked Rs34 billion in the annual budget to help citizens.

"This budget was allocated to ensure food security, reduce inflation and unemployment," he said.

Shah further stated that Rs5 billion were allocated for a soft loan programme for small and medium-sized enterprises in the province, while subsidies of Rs1 billion would be provided to purchase rice seeds and another Rs1 billion for pesticides.

Shah directed the relevant authorities to collect the necessary data from the National Database and Registration Authority, Benazir Income Support Programme and the census department.

The relevant officials were also ordered to write a letter to the census department to request data pertaining to people's socio-economic conditions in the province.

During the meeting, Sindh livestock and fisheries secretary Aijaz Ahmed Mahesar also presented a comprehensive plan for interventions in the livestock sector.

According to the plan, the breeding of livestock would first be improved through the provision of breeding bulls to poor cattle farmers, with the government procuring 1,000 bulls and 2,000 poultry males for the purpose and placing them at the union council level.

Secondly, the breeding would be enhanced by providing free artificial insemination services to impoverished livestock farmers and for the cause, high-yielding exotic and local breed bulls would be purchased and stationed at production units of the department.

Thirdly, capacity-building would be carried out to train poor youth in the field of artificial insemination, in order to improve breeding.

Approving the livestock department's plan, Shah stated that the provincial government had allocated Rs500 million for livestock breeding, to address the post-pandemic crisis and to support and uplift the socio-economic situation of the livestock farmers.

The meeting was attended by special assistant to the Sindh chief minister Haris Gazdar, finance secretary Syed Hassan Naqvi and others.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2020.