Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah claimed that his government has reduced the poverty in the province with the intervention of the People’s Poverty Reduction Programme (PPRP), which was started in 2010 in some areas and will be replicated in Sindh.
While responding to questions in Sindh Assembly, CM Murad said that the programme was conceived for the rural community to empower the women who are the actual driving of generating the economic resources for the household.
“Under the income generating grant, the money is provided to women to generate income. Women are given different grants that range up to Rs30,000 to purchase livestock and other products,” he said.
CM Murad said that around 54,415 women were supposed to be covered, but so far 32,000 have received a benefit from the scheme.
Giving credit for the programme to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chief minister added that from certain areas of the Sukkur division in 2010, the programme was expanded in six districts of Sindh in 2015, and now it is being launched across the province. “It is a three-tier social mobilisation approach. We, with the local organisation and community-led solution, mobilize the women how to start the business then we issue the grant to them,” he said. He maintained that vocational training for women and construction of the house for the poor are also part of the programme.
“Under this programme, we have built 20,081 houses for the poor. It is a successful model. Looking at the transparency and significant output, the European Commission (EC) has also given us 86 million euros for the construction of houses,” CM said. He added that the EC monitors the programme and the provincial government has nothing to do with monitoring and evaluation of the programme. Talking about Karachi, the chief minister stated that the programme has been started in sub-urban areas of Karachi too.
Regarding the outbreak of COVID-19 and revenue generation, the chief minister said, despite the financial constraint, his government completed around 607 development schemes.
During the session, a resolution was also adopted unanimously to express solidarity with the families of the martyred soldiers who lost their lives in the crash of a military helicopter. The resolution moved by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MPA Sharmila Faruqui and signed by lawmakers from treasury and opposition, reads, “The house expresses grief over the clash of a military helicopter and subsequent martyrdom of six Pakistan Army officials including corps commander Southern command. The house prays for their eternal peace in the hereafter.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2022.
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