LAHORE, Sept 13: The Punjab Provincial Zakat Council has decided to discontinue equal distribution of guzara allowance, educational stipends, religious institution stipends, health care, social welfare rehabilitation and marriage allowance funds among the districts in vogue since the introduction of zakat in 1981.

The council, at its meeting chaired by Justice Dr Munir A Mughal (retired) on Saturday, decided to distribute the funds among the districts on a population basis in accordance with the 1998 census. The decision will be implemented from the current financial year.

The policy has been changed in view of the fact that many deserving people in the districts with larger population could not be helped because the funds available for the purpose were limited. Larger amounts of funds were, however, available to the districts with comparatively smaller population due to the equal distribution formula.

The council distributed Rs1.01 billion received from the Central Zakat Council among the zakat committees of 34 districts in the Punjab for disbursement among the deserving under various heads till December on a population basis. It will receive an equal amount from the CZC for disbursement during the January-June 2004 period early next year.

Lahore received the highest allocation of Rs88 million under the new population based formula, followed by Faisalabad, which got Rs75 million for having the second largest population in the province. Hafizabad got the minimum allocation of Rs11 million for having the smallest population in the province.

Rawalpindi and Gujranwala received exactly equal allocations of Rs46 million each for having equal population. A sum of Rs36 million each was allocated for Muzaffargarh and Sargodha, and Rs28 million each for Gujrat, Vehari, Khanewal and Bahawalnagar.

Lodhran and Mandi Bahauddin were allocated Rs16 million each, Attock and Narowal Rs17 million each, Chakwal and Layyah Rs15 million each, Toba Tek Singh and Dera Ghazi Khan Rs22 million each and Mianwali and Bhakkar received Rs14 million each.

Sheikhupura was allocated Rs45 million, Rahim Yar Khan Rs43 million and Multan Rs42 million. A sum of Rs39 million was allocated for Jhang and Rs37 million for Sialkot.

Similarly, a sum of Rs33 million was allocated for Bahawalpur, Rs32 million for Kasur, Rs30 million for Okara and Rs25 million for Sahiwal. Pakpattan received an allocation of Rs18 million, Layyah Rs15 million and Khushab Rs12 million.