ISLAMABAD: The government has received more than 30 million requests for financial assistance under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme announced for people rendered jobless by the lockdown imposed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

People from all over the country sent their requests through SMS on 8171 introduced by the government for this special financial aid.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar in a tweet on Monday said that as many as 30.45 million text messages had been received for inclusion in the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme. Other poor coronavirus pandemic affected people who want to join the programme should send their identity card number through the given SMS, the tweet said.

The government will provide an amount of Rs12,000 to the deserving poor applicants.

Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, the special assistant said that the payment process under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme will start from April 8.

She said existing Kafalat beneficiaries, who are getting regular cash transfer of Rs2,000 per month, would be given additional Rs1,000 and hence, they would get a tranche of Rs12,000 covering four months.

The deserving families would get this cash assistance after biometric verification through over 18,065 sale points or retail shops of Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Bank Al-Falah throughout the country.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2020