Rain-affected people to get financial support

The Sindh government has decided to provide financial support to people affected by rains and Covid-19, as part of its social protection initiative, announced Sindh chief secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah on Friday.

In June, the Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government earmarked over Rs34 billion for a social protection package in the provincial budget.

Presiding over a meeting on Friday, the chief secretary said that provincial government intended to provide help to rain-and-pandemic-affected people under the initiative, and had constituted a three-member committee for collecting the data of rain affected persons.

The committee, headed by chief minister’s aide Haris Gazdar, will collect and the data within three days and get it verified by the National Database and Regulatory Authority (NADRA), he added.

Also speaking on the occasion, Gazdar told the meeting that the committee would collect data from multiples sources and registration for the collection of money would initially be started in 10 union councils of Karachi by the next week.

The registration would be extended to the rest of Sind by the end of October, he said, explaining that each affected person would be issued a special “Sindh social registry number,” using which people would be able to get themselves registered for receiving support on their mobile phones.

After the verification of data by NADRA, the payment will be started in November, he added.

According to the provincial chief secretary, Rs20 billion has been set aside for pandemic-affected individuals under the Sindh Peoples Support Programme.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2020.