Ehsaas body approves subsidy programme design

The steering committee of Ehsaas targeted commodity subsidies on Friday approved the design of the programme, which is aimed at providing basic commodities at discounted prices to deserving households.

“Coming under the Ehsaas umbrella, the national scale targeted subsidies programme will identify beneficiaries through the Ehsaas national socioeconomic survey registry 2021,” SAPM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Sania Nishtar said while presiding over the committee meeting.

This was the second meeting of the steering committee since its constitution by Prime Minister Imran Khan in July.

All the necessary spadework, digital structuring and integrations are complete for the rollout of the programme, she said, adding that the programme has specifically been designed to provide inflation relief to the poor populations as per the premier’s instructions.

“The number of people to be supported and the exact details of the amount of subsidy will be announced by the PM next week,” the SAPM said.

The members of the committee reviewed the design contours and rolled out preparations for the upcoming programme. Under the federal-provincial partnership, the programme will be implemented in collaboration with the National Bank of Pakistan and the Utility Stores Corporation.

The committee decided that subsidies will be granted to beneficiary households on selected essential commodities.

Ehsaas has developed a digitally enabled mobile point of sale system in partnership with NBP to serve beneficiaries through a network of Kiryana stores designated by NBP, all over the country. Alongside, IT systems of Ehsaas and USC have also been fully integrated for the identification of Ehsaas beneficiaries.

The steering committee has the mandate to oversee the design and execution of the targeted commodity subsidies programme.