PM Imran Khan. PHOTO: PTI

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has announced to distribute from today (Thursday) Rs12,000 stipend to each of the 12 million families across Pakistan worst affected by the lockdowns announced in the last week of March in order to stop spread of novel coronavirus pandemic.



“Rs12,000 will be given to each of the 12 million families from tomorrow (Thursday) under ‘Ehsaas Programme,” Prime Minster Imran Khan on Wednesday told the media after chairing a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on coronavirus.



The premier was flanked by Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Ehsaas Programme chief Dr Sania Nashtar, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal and Corona Tigers Relief Force chief Usman Dar.



Assuring the nation that the programme will be free from political influence, the prime minister said no one can interfere in the stipend system because it is automated and computerized and the data is taken from the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA).



“It’s a merit-based system that will enable the government to distribute Rs12,000 [to each family] from 17,000 different points across Pakistan. Around 1.2 million families would be given the amount and the distribution process would be completed in the next two-to-two-and-half weeks.”



Imran Khan said the federal government is coordinating with the provinces, adding that there will be some ups and downs in the distribution programme because “such a huge programme at a large scale has never been executed in Pakistan.”



The PM also announced to open construction sector from April 14, saying it would ease pressure from the daily wager as they would start getting jobs.



“When we think about lockdown, we cannot afford a lockdown being enforced in Europe and United States. We knew the labour-class would be affected the most so we had to maintain a balance between the impact of coronavirus and poverty.”



While highlighting the government’s initiatives regarding the economic activities in the country during the COVID-19 crisis, PM Imran said: “We have to let our agriculture sector to work fully,” adding that “there is no lockdown in rural areas.”



On March 23, Sindh announced a complete lockdown across the province. The next day – on March 24 – Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan as well as Gilgilt-Baltistan and AJK followed suit.



Imran said he wants everyone to take part in the government’s relief programme and register with the Corona Tigers Relief Force – a group of volunteers being raised to assist government’s relief measures.



“The government needs your money and manpower as it is low on resources and has to cater to a large population.” In addition, he said, the volunteers of the tiger force are instructed to help people who could not send their computerized National Identity Card (CNICs) numbers to register for the cash fund.



During the press briefing, Dr Sania Nishtar, who is also special assistant to the prime minister on poverty alleviation, said the mechanism to distribute cash is not only digital but utmost efforts are made to make it transparent and free from interference.



Nishtar said the aspirant sends a text message carrying the CNIC number to the government. This message passes through several stages of scrutiny through NADRA’s database, to ensure that the receiver is qualified for the amount.



“Only one member of a family receives a message from Ehsaas Programme even if multiple members of the family send their CNIC numbers,” she said.



The NDMA chairman said the authority has delivered medical supplies for 18,000 medical professionals in Punjab and for 15,000 medical professionals in Sindh though the calculated demand was for 6,000 and 9,000 people, respectively.



He said the calculated demand was for 2,000 medical professionals but supplies for 8,000 people were delivered to Balochistan. “10,000 personal protective equipment (PPEs) were given to K-P against the K-P government’s demand of 900,000 PPEs,” he said.



“The NDMA has started distributing ventilators, the PPE and other medical supplies to hospitals in different provinces. Other federal territories are also being provided with PPEs and other supplies. 100,000 additional testing kits will arrive soon. Currently 22 testing labs were operating in Pakistan.”



Minister for Planning Asad Umar talked about flights bringing back Pakistanis stranded abroad. He said many Pakistanis abroad whose visa had expired or those who have lost their jobs want to come back. “The matter came under discussion in the NCC meeting.”



In the first week, he said, flights only came to Islamabad as it was decided that after the first day the authorities concerned would review and decide further.



Revealing that the NCC has agreed that the other airports should also be included in the process, he said, “a system is being devised so that passengers come but no danger is posed by their arrival. By the next week, operations will begin at airports in other provinces.”



Earlier in the day, PM Khan chaired the NCC meeting on COVID-19 and discussed the situation arising in the wake of the pandemic. The meeting reviewed progress in controlling the spread of the virus in the country and discussed the strategy to minimize the impact of the challenge.