August 09, 2008	Saturday	Sha’aban 6, 1429

ATTOCK, Aug 8: As many as 30,000 applications have been received for the food stamp scheme throughout the district and these are being verified by the verification teams.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Capt (retired) Saqib Zafar told this correspondent that 30,000 applications had been recommended by five members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) from the district against the limit of 25,000 applications. As many as 5,000 deserving people would be selected from each provincial constituency. The district has five provincial constituencies.

He said 19,000 applications had been verified, out of which 5,000 have so far been rejected during door-to-door verification/scrutiny process being conducted under the supervision of five executive district officers (EDOs) of Attock district. The verification of the remaining 6,000 applications was underway, which would be completed at the end of this month, he claimed.

The DCO said if any deserving person had not applied for the scheme he or she could submit the application to his office or with the EDOs.

He said 30 different teams comprising employees of health, agriculture and education departments had been set up under the supervision of the EDOs for door-to-door verification of the applications. Although the MPAs were allowed to identify the applicants of their respective constituencies, it was the duty of the district administration to verify the contents of the applications without any discrimination so that only deserving people receive financial aid.

DCO Saqib Zafar said to avoid any malpractice and registration of non-deserving persons, data of applicants and verifications were being compiled which would be connected with the centralised computer network at the Punjab Ministry of Industry.

He said the Punjab finance secretary also paid a surprise visit to Attock last Tuesday to review the verification process and checked the list of verified applicants by meeting with them in person and expressed satisfaction over the entire process. Under the food stamp scheme, Rs1,000 will be provided to each registered person through money order, he added.

ENROLMENT DRIVE: DCO Saqib Zafar said the district administration was going to launch a campaign to enrol out-of-school children on August 16 in Attock district.

He said children born in 2002 would be enrolled, adding that a target of 30,000 enrolments of children between the age group of five and seven had been set for the current year. He said the staff of education department would start a door-to-door drive along with volunteers in their respective areas to identify the out-of-school children.