The Punjab Zakat Council has announced the restoration of the marriage grant, also known as the dowry fund, for poor girls after a hiatus of three and a half years. According to sources, the grant was stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic however, the payment will be given to deserving families after Eid.
The council has also decided to release various funds including the fund for Eid gifts, monthly living allowance, the fund for visually impaired persons, and leprosy patients fund for underprivileged families from the Zakat fund after a delay of 13 months.
However, for the first time in Punjab's history, the recipients of Zakat will not receive the Eid gift before the upcoming Eid.
This means that 10,000 families living below the poverty line in Rawalpindi district will not receive Rs9,000 this Eid as the council has decided to pay these ‘gifts’ in the first week of May after the Eid holidays.
Sources said the funds were allocated on Thursday evening and the Eid holidays will start on Friday and will continue for 5 days till April 25.
The District Zakat Council will receive this amount by April 30 and it will complete the process and release the funds for the recipients in the first week of May.
On Thursday, Rs5.8 billion worth Zakat budget was approved out of which Rs200 million has been allocated for the dowry fund, Rs3.19 billion for monthly living allowance, Rs1.2 million for leprosy patients’ families, Rs145 million for scholarships for students with low-income backgrounds, Rs145 million for visually impaired individuals, and Rs462 million for free treatment of patients.
The free treatment of poor patients was denied for nine months, which will now be restored in May, enabling free heart operations and kidney dialysis.
The Zakat council pays a monthly subsistence allowance of Rs3,000 to widows and poor families, and this amount will also be paid in May. Zakat recipients breathed a sigh of relief over the release of the funds.
Some recipients, such as Fazeelat Bibi, have expressed concern about the delay, but overall, many are grateful for the restoration of these funds, including Khalida Begum and Shaukat Mehmood, who have demanded an increase in the dowry fund from the current Rs5,000 to 20,000.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2023.
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