Islamabad: Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Tuesday said that low-income households affected by the COVID-19 pandemic would begin to receive a four-month advance cash stipend from next week onwards, a news reported.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan recently announced a monthly stipend of PKR 3,000 (per family) for some 12 million households affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic under the Ehsaas Programme. To this effect, Umar revealed that the Social Protection Division would publish and broadcast advertisements and launch an SMS service. He said after this campaign, they would begin the formal process of distributing the four-month advance cash stipend .
The planning minister stated that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, they had already conducted five meetings of the National Coordination Committee on Coronavirus (NCCC) for reviewing the ongoing situation in the country. He added that the sixth meeting – scheduled for April 2 – would have attendance of chief ministers from all provinces.
Umar said that the sixth meeting would discuss further
strategies with regard to the extension or closure of lockdown imposed due to
the novel coronavirus
in the country.
