Ehsaas Centres to widen Balochistan coverage

Facilities to serve beneficiaries at doorstep

ISLAMABAD:

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Senator Dr Sania Nishtar on Monday announced to open One Window Ehsaas Centres in all districts of Balochistan during the current fiscal year to facilitate the beneficiaries.

She stated this during her visit to the bordering areas of South Balochistan to educate the local communities and beneficiaries about the programmes and initiatives of Ehsaas apart from receiving their feedback.

The prime minister’s special assistant visited sub-tehsil Balnigore and Tehsil Tump of district Kech together with the Makran Division and senior officers of the Pakistan army including Frontier Corps.

Dr Sania also visited various sites in the region to explore options for opening the One Window Ehsaas Centres in Turbat and Mand.

"In this fiscal year, One Window Ehsaas Centres will open in all districts of Balochistan. It is our top priority to open the one-stop-shop, One Window Ehsaas Centres in lagging districts of South Balochistan to facilitate beneficiaries at the earliest," she added.

Keeping in view the difficult terrain of South Balochistan, a localized strategy of Ehsaas is also being formulated to facilitate beneficiaries in far flung areas through mobile One Window Centres as well. Once materialized, this mobile arrangement will serve the beneficiaries of Ehsaas at the doorstep and will reduce their travel time and cost.

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During the visit, she interacted with local communities and took feedback on the Ehsaas' running programmes in the area.

Creating awareness about Ehsaas programmes, Dr Sania guided the local communities about the Ehsaas Digital portal that provides people centred instructional information of Ehsaas in Urdu.

She also briefed about the Ehsaas 8171 web-portal that is accessible online for the general public to check their eligibility under Ehsaas.

Under the umbrella of Ehsaas, there are many programmes being implemented in South Balochistan including Ehsaas Kafaalat, Ehsaas Emergency Cash, Ehsaas Education Stipends and Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarship.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2021.