PM calls for effective awareness drive to enhance outreach of Ramazan package

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the relevant ministries, State Bank of Pakistan and private partners to revisit the ongoing awareness drive on the Rs20 billion Ramazan Package to enhance its effectiveness and outreach and address the gap between the disbursement and withdrawal.

The prime minister, during his visit to the National Telecommunication Corporation Headquarters to monitor the execution of the program, was told that the around 2.8 million entitled accounts had been credited with Rs5,000 each and 683,000 of those had withdrawn the amount.

“As 94% of accounts had been established, the withdrawal ratio is just 22%. There is a big gap between disbursement and withdrawal which shows a lack of awareness among the people,” the prime minister remarked and also asked the SBP governor to join the campaign to make as many people as possible benefit from the program.

He appreciated the relevant ministries and partners for the construction and execution of this “comprehensive and wonderful” program and accepting the challenge of supporting the entitled deserving people during the holy month of Ramazan.

“This was a new concept to say goodbye to the Utility Stores forever due to the massive complaints of “worst” corruption of pubic money, which was also an injustice to the common man. The issue of poor quality and corruption have been done away with through a new modern digital wallet,” he remarked.

The prime minister said that four million families comprising over 20 million people from across the country would benefit from the program which was the first ever such initiative by the government to disburse the cash amount through a transparent mechanism without any issues of quality or transparency. The provision of Rs5,000 to each family would enable the beneficiary family to purchase the commodities of their own choice, he added.

He said that a validation system was a main component of the program, providing immediate correction of any mistake.

Prime Minister Shehbaz also urged the people to call the program helpline 9999 to get their financial support without any delay.

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