ISLAMABAD, Nov 24 (APP): The arrangements for releasing Ehsaas Kafaalat tranche for the period of July- December 2020 nationwide this week were being finalized.
Ehsaas Kafaalat is the government’s flagship social protection programme through which it gives cash stipends of Rs. 2,000 monthly and bank accounts to the most deserving and poorest women across the country.
Beneficiaries of the Kafalaat program are the destitute women with no other source of livelihoods.
According to an official source, the arrangements for releasing Kafaalat payments to the beneficiaries were being finalized across the country with partnering banks- Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Bank Alfalah Limited.
The Kafaalat beneficiaries would be served through biometrically enabled payment operations being initiated in the entire country with release of this tranche.
Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries now have the choice of going to, a biometrically enabled ATM, a biometric retail shop or any biometrically enabled branch of the relevant banks.
Under Ehsaas, HBL serves cash disbursals in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and Bank Alfalah across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Both banks are enhancing services across the country to ensure that women have easy access to their payments in a decent manner.
The Ehsaas digital payment system would enable women to go to biometric ATMs and branches of banks, empowering them through financial inclusion.
Kafaalat beneficiary women have been urged to withdraw cash through ATM machines of designated partner banks, wherever possible.
It would not just protect them from corrupt financial mistreatment, but bank branches and ATMs also serve them with a receipt detailing transparent record of available cash balance in their saving accounts.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar, who is heading Ehsaas program, had held several meetings with the bank officials and conducted field visits to ensure that the beneficiaries of the program may not face any hassle in receiving their payments through ATMs.
It is also pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Imran Khan had granted approval to increase the number of Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries from 4.6 million to 7 million recently.
The new deserving households will be identified after completing due diligence as per Ehsaas Kafaalat Policy.
A poverty survey and analysis of the data is in the process of being completed phase wise across the country.
Also, an option of Ehsaas registration desks has been built at the Tehsil levels in each district to include any missing households. Opening of registration desks is linked to the completion of poverty survey in that particular district.
