Helping hand: Over a billion rupees to be released to Zakat Committees

LAHORE:

The Zakat Council approved the release of nearly Rs1.46 billion on Monday to District Zakat Committees.

The sum will be released as the second six-monthly installment to finance the provision of subsistence allowances, various scholarships, treatment of patients, marriages, vocational training of needy patients and leprosy patients.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chairman Akhtar Hassan.

It was decided to release Rs572,945,000 to provide underprivileged people with a Rs1,000 subsistence allowance per person, Rs51,699,000 to finance scholarships for students enrolled at various educational institutions, Rs45,954,500 to provide students of seminaries with scholarships, Rs34,466,500 to finance the treatment of underprivileged patients at several district and tehsil headquarters hospitals, Rs124,400,000 to finance treatment of needy patients at medical facilities and hospital across the Punjab, Rs45,954,500 to provide underprivileged women with marriage grants, Rs526,109,000 to provide students at vocational training institutions with scholarships and Rs60,000,000 to finance the treatment of leprosy patients.

The council also decided to release Rs32,452,000 for 6144 students at 180 educational institutions in 18 districts across the Punjab, Rs47,348,000 for 21034 needy students at 200 seminaries in 20 districts across the province. The council had earlier raised the subsistence allowance to Rs1000 from Rs500 and the allowance for marriage grants from Rs 10,000 to Rs20,000. It was also decided to raise the salaries of those employed by the department during the meeting.

Zakat and Ushr Secretary Habibur Rehman, Administrator Muhammad Yusuf Butt, Deputy Administrator Rana Muhammad Sajjad Babar and Zakat Council Members Hafiz Zubair Ahmed Zaheer, Maulana Raghib Hussain Naeemi, Muhammad Azhar Farooqi and Tanveer Kausar were also present on the occasion.

Those present also expressed sadness over the Peshawar carnage and offered prayers for those martyred in the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2014.