The Prime Minister today presided over a meeting during which he was brefied about commencement of operations through the Ehsaas Rashan Portal; during this briefing, the PM COVID app and the Ehsaas Langar and Panahgah App were also unveiled
Special Assistant to the PM, Dr. Sania Nishtar conducted the briefing. Federal Minister for Information, Shibli Faraz and SAPM Asim Bajwa were also preset during the briefing. The PM’s focal persons on Panaah Gahs, Naseem-ur-Rehman and the PM’s Focial Person for the PM Fund, Khursheed Alam also attended. Federal Secretaries and heads of organizations including Furqan Ahmed Sayed from Pepsi Co, Mohammad Ali Tabba from Lucky Cement, Atif Bajwa from Alfalah Bank, Arif Usmani from NBP, Bashir Farooqui from Saylani Welfare Trust and Quraish Mehmood from Urban Properties were also present. Inspiring other donors to come forward and support government initiatives while presiding the meeting, the PM stated, “Transparency is most critical in the use of donor funds; we are ensuing that there is visibility of every penny donated through the PM’s COVID Fund Portal” he lauded the role of Ehsaas and further added “the new Langar and Panahgah App which enable the much needed critical coordination of welfare activities in the country”.
Giving briefing to the PM, Special Assistant to the PM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar remarked, “The Ehsaas Rashan program is principally a means to link private sector organizations willing to donate food rations, to government verified beneficiaries. The role of government is primarily that of onboarding credible donor organizations, verifying beneficiaries, and providing donor organizations list of verified beneficiaries to conduct targeted disbursement of ration.” In the first stage, a list has been compiled of individuals who have sought assistance for Rashan but who did not apply for Ehsaas Emergency Cash-8171 scheme.
Earlier this morning, several donors including Pepsi Co, Lucky Cement, Bank Alfalah and Saylani Welfare International Trust committed to donate cumulatively 12 million meals to deserving beneficiaries by signing MoUs with Ehsaas. These donors have signed MOUs and non-disclosure agreements with Ehsaas and have received beneficiary data for ration disbursement in specific geographies under the Ehsaas Rashan program.
The beta version of the Ehsaas Langar and Panagah app, which was unveiled during the meeting enables geographic locations of welfare organizations to be mapped when they are photographed through the app, so that there is better coordination of relief efforts and no duplication; underserved areas will also be identified through the App. The App also provides public information about Langars and Panagahs.
During the course of briefing, the PM also officially announced the launch of "Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund -2020 Web-Portal" to solicit philanthropic donations. He also acknowledged commitments made towards the Prime Ministers COVID relief fund by different donors and agencies. Through this portal, all donors, international as well as domestic, can now remit or deposit their donations through their respective banks through this portal. Till today, as many as pledges worth Rs. 4.5 billion have been made by several domestic and foreign donors in either kind or cash. PM’s focal person on PM’s COVID-19 refief fund drive, Khursheed Alam said, “Thank you Pakistan and thank you Pakistanis” for inspiring us with your generous donations.”
For the ease of donors, the web-based portal is housed on an official website being managed by the PM office (https://pmcrf.covid.gov.pk/) to accept donations either via SMS, debit or credit card, online transfer or IBFT, international funds transfer, Jazzcash and easypasia. The portal will exclusively feature 100 percent trackability of domestic and foreign donations. The Prime Minister has committed that for each rupee donated by the donors, 4 rupees will be committed by the Government. The donations received through this donation portal will be channeled through Ehsaas Emergency Cash to reach out to deserving families providing them cash handouts of Rs. 12,000 each.
