K-P govt to launch Food Card Programme

One million families will benefit from the initiative

PESHAWAR:

As an important step to provide maximum relief to the deserving households of the province, Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Mahmood Khan has decided in principle to launch Food Card Programme in the upcoming budget.

He directed the stake holders to take necessary steps to finalise the proposed Food Card Program before the budget of new fiscal year.

Under the proposed Food Card Programme, it is initially proposed to provide free of cost wheat flour or provision of four basic food items at subsidized rates to the deserving households. More or less one million households and over five million individuals are expected to benefit from the program.

The chief minister has taken this decision while chairing a meeting of the K-P Food Department held here on Thursday.

Special Assistant to CM on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, Secretary Finance Ikramullah Khan and Secretary Food Mushtaq Ahmad and other relevant officials of food department attended the meeting.

The meeting was briefed in depth about the preliminary sketch and features of the proposed Food Card Program, registration of deserving households, estimated cost, implementation mechanism and other various aspects of the program.

The meeting also reviewed the various proposals for providing basic food items to deserving households on subsidised rates under the proposed program.

The chief minister has directed the officials to submit workable proposals for final approval to this effect. He also directed the food department to finalise the list of deserving households for the purpose.

Talking on the occasion, the chief minister said that he was fully aware of the problems of people due to current wave of inflation in the country, adding that his government was taking solid steps to curtail the burden of inflation on general public.

He said that the provincial government was making a plan to give significant relief to deserving households of the province in the budget of next fiscal year.

The previous federal government launched Ehsas Ration project across the country under which Rs1,000 subsidy is provide on food items to each family but most of the people who received it termed it insufficient compared to the current state of inflation in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2022.