‘Ehsaas Koi Bhooka Na Soye’ (EKBNS) is a new policy initiative of the federal government to eliminate hunger in the country. The initiative is an extension of Ehsaas Langar Policy and it aims to distribute cooked meals at designated delivery points to people in need especially those at risk of or experiencing hunger.
Meals will be delivered free of charge through food truck arrangements. Many of the EKBNS recipients will be the labour class including the elderly, differently abled, labourers, daily wage earners, women and children who cannot access Ehsaas Langar sites in industrial zones and bus stations.
A groundbreaking ceremony of EKBNS will be held today in the federal capital. PM will inaugurate the two Ehsaas food trucks that will serve free cooked food at various points across twin cities, Rawalpindi and Islamabad including public places, slums and hospitals while ensuring utmost dignity and quality. The meals will be cooked, stored and distributed from a truck kitchen. As per estimates, each food truck will feed around 2000 people daily. Food will be distributed 7 days a week, 365 days a year, two times a day.
On January 01, 2021 Prime Minister had announced his new year resolution that a project would be executed under Ehsaas this year to make sure that no one goes to bed hungry in the country. In line with instructions of PM, the EKBNS policy initiative has been conceptualized and designed under the umbrella of Ehsaas on fast-track basis in less than two months.
This programme has been designed in a public private partnership mode whereby Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal will be responsible for the operations of the food trucks and Saylani Welfare International Trust will be responsible for provision of meals.
In its first phase, the programme pilot is being rolled out in the twin cities under supervision of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD). Based on results of pilot phase, the initiative will be upscaled and expanded to other deserving cities in the second phase later this year.
To make EKBNS more financially sustainable, PASSD has constituted a ‘Donor Coordination Group’ that will serve as an Ehsaas channel to engage with the private sector. Pledges and commitments by the private sector, international agencies, philanthropies, civil society and individuals will be overseen by the coordination group. And, the viability, feasibility, materialization and tracking of donations will be stringently assessed and managed by PASSD according to the rule-based policy and procedures.
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