Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the relevant ministries on Monday to collaborate with the private sector to raise awareness about the acquisition of the RS5,000 Ramadan help package through digital wallets for deserving families, administered by the State Pakistan radio reported.
The measure occurs after the government launched an RS20 billion help package at the beginning of this month for four million deserving families, around 20 million people, throughout the country.
Today, while reviewing the monitoring mechanism of the Ramazan aid package in the National Telecommunications Corporation in Islamabad, the prime minister ordered the relevant ministries to sit with the private sector and review the awareness campaign of the aid package in terms of its effectiveness and scope.
“The withdrawal of digital wallets is approximately 20 percent, which is due to lack of awareness,” the report said.
“Families who need relief cannot access it due to lack of awareness,” the report said, added that the first ministry ordered the ministries to ask families to call 9999 to obtain the required information about digital wallets.
He also demanded contributions from relevant interested parties within a week to further expand the volume of the relief package.
Traditionally, the Ramazan package of the prime minister is offered to the general public through public service stores. However, the Government decided to distribute Ramazan’s help package without the participation of the Public Service Stores Corporation to avoid corruption and distribution of low quality products.
Instead, the prime minister decided that each family would receive RS5,000 through digital wallets.
“It is the first time that cash transfers of five thousand rupees are being made to the deserving families in the most transparent way under [the] Ramazan’s help package to buy items from their own choice and requirements, ”he said.
The digital wallet mechanism is designed by the authorities and relevant institutions, including the ministries, the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Database and Registration Authority, the Benazir Income Support Program and the technological companies, which worked “day and night to design a digital mechanism.”
