—‘Govt will divert all the money coming from the sale of Benami properties to anti-poverty initiative’

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday launched the National Poverty Graduation Initiative to steer the poorest household out of poverty by providing them interest-free loans, assets transfers and vocational and skills training.

Held at the PM Office, the launching ceremony of the initiative marked the distribution of cheques of varying amounts of interest-free loans to help the poor establish or uplift their small scale businesses to support their living.

Education and Professional Training Minister Shafqat Mahmood and Special Assistant to PM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar also attended the ceremony besides a huge number of representatives from collaborating organizations and beneficiaries of the programme.

The ceremony coincided with 391 similar cheque distribution events held across the country where 86,151 interest-free loans worth Rs3.02 billion were given out to the deserving persons.

Addressing the gathering, the prime minister said Ehsaas programme was driven from the model of Medina state that had given the concept of modern welfare state and now being pursued by all the developed countries in the west.

He said the government had already increased the budgetary allocation for Ehsaas to Rs200 billion that would further be enhanced in the future.

He also announced that the government would divert all the money coming from the sale of Benami properties to the anti-poverty initiative.

“I am confident that the money generated after the sale of Benami properties will exceed the national budget.”