February 01, 2008	Friday	Muharram 22, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 31: Although more than a week has elapsed that the government announced its decision to re-introduce food rationing system in Pakistan after it was abolished exactly 20 years ago in February 1987, people are waiting for an operational plan as the deadline set for putting it in place as an official policy is Feb 8.

Inquiries made with all relevant quarters with pointed questions as who would be entitled to ration cards and what would be the criteria for declaring a person or a family poor and what would be its magnitude in economic terms failed to evoke any response.

Food bureaucracies in Islamabad and Karachi have no idea as to how this plan would be operated.

The provincial Zakat and Usher administration has no clue so far of this scheme, and finally, a senior official of the Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan in Islamabad indicated that his boss, the director-general of the USC might be in picture and would be able to spell out the outlines.

The director-general, (retd) Brig Hafeez did not respond to the repeated calls made to him on Thursday. The 4,500 stores network of the USC is expected to be the retail outlet of the proposed ration system.

Described as a poverty driven scheme, the ration cards are expected to be issued to poor who were to be given a specified quantity of essential food items at subsidised prices.

Who will be entitled to such ration cards? This was the first obvious question put to the government officials. Their answer was that there was a Central Zakat Council, provincial zakat council in each of four provinces and local zakat councils that get zakat from government and distribute it among the needy and poor.But the Central Zakat Council did not meet for the last more than three years. Its composition was incomplete till recently when its chairman and four members were appointed, said a social worker. He said the provincial and local councils are also incomplete in their composition and almost dysfunctional.

The listed needy persons are paid Rs500 a month from the Zakat fund as subsistence allowance, but they are doubtful as local councillors and area politicians continue to amend the list frequently.

Till a few years ago, the State Bank of Pakistan, in its annual reports used to give province-wise Zakat collection figures which is collected through banks from account holders, but these collections never went beyond Rs4 to Rs5 billion a year.

“Total zakat collection has now dropped and should be hardly Rs3 billion,’’ estimated a senior banker.