KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly was on Friday informed that the zakat and ushr department had disbursed Rs26.31 million among 1,445 poor orphans and needy girls from Jan 2017 to June 2018.

Furnishing a statement and replies to the lawmakers’ queries during Question Hour in the house, zakat and ushr parliamentary secretary Heer Soho said that the beneficiary girls were Muslim and dependent on their parents, guardians or social welfare organisations for subsistence.

Zakat and Ushr Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal was not present in the proceedings for the second consecutive time to furnish the answers.

Ms Soho also shared the district-wise details of the zakat funds provided during the period in question.

Opposition members belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan pointed out that meagre amounts were disbursed in the densely populated districts in Karachi, while huge money was distributed in other districts of the province.

Disparity in fund distribution highlighted

One of them said that there were only 17 beneficiaries in Karachi who were paid Rs170,000 or Rs10,000 each, while the number of beneficiaries in Khairpur was 202 and the amount disbursed among them was Rs4.04m.

When the opposition members asked the parliamentary secretary to explain the reason behind this disparity, she could not come up with a reply to their satisfaction.

MQM-P member Mohammad Hussain asked her why the amount of Rs10,000 each was given in some districts and Rs20,000 in other districts.

The parliamentary secretary said that the allocations were made on the basis of population in each district and the Rs10,000 aid was given in the district where more applications were submitted.

Mr Hussain confronted her and said the amount should have been Rs20,000 in Karachi as there were less number of applicants. The parliamentary secretary had to cut a sorry figure when the Muttahida member asked for details of district-wise allocations of zakat fund.

Initially, she advised Mr Hussain to submit a fresh question as it did not relate to the written question on the agenda, but later she said that she would provide the details during the course of assembly proceedings.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2019