KARACHI: The provincial government on Sunday established a Sindh Relief Initiative Application with a URL address under which social welfare organisations interested in working with the government would have to get them registered so that rations could be distributed among the needy people and daily wage earners on their doorstep.

This was disclosed by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while presiding over a largely attended meeting of welfare organisations.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, advisers, special assistants, heads of different welfare organisations, chief secretary, IG police, home secretary, Karachi police chief, finance secretary and others.

The chief minister said that the Sindh Relief Initiative was aimed at providing rations to the daily wage earners and needy people on their doorstep.

“The daily wage earners will have to get themselves registered through an application and then the government will distribute different areas among different welfare organisation for distribution of rations,” he added.

The chief minister said that according to 2017 census the population of the province was 50 million and 10 million of them or 1.4 million families were daily wage earners, therefore the government in support of the welfare organisations wanted to provide them with rations.

He said that out of 10 million daily wage earners, 25 per cent were associated with construction industry, who were covered under EOBI, 35 per cent were affiliated with textile and ancillary industry and they were also registered with the EOBI and 40 per cent workers work in small and medium-sized enterprises, cottage and roadside shops and transport industry and they were not registered with any organisation such as Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) or Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI).

“If an average family is provided with a rations of Rs5,500 the amount will come to Rs7.7 billion, if 1.4 million families are covered. I am developing a mechanism to reach each and every family so that nobody is left without rations,” he said.

The chief minister said that all stakeholders, including the government and non-government organisations should use the same platform to promote uniformity in the whole disbursement exercise.

“Standard Operation Procedure for disbursement to be signed by all stakeholders,” he said and added that technology would be used for disbursement data management and record keeping.

He disclosed that Sindh Relief Initiative App was developed to provide a single platform for all relief activities.

The chief minister said that the app would ensure uniformity in disbursement by registering CNICs so that no duplication could happen. “The app will do volunteer management as well as register donors.”

He thanked the organisation such as Karachi Relief Trust, Saylani Welfare, Edhi, Bait-us-Salam, Citizen Foundation, Chhipa, Zindagi Trust, Patient Aid and various others who were supporting the government in its initiative.

He said that with the support of the welfare organisations, like Saylani, Chhipa, Almgir, Zindagi Trust and others the government had started distribution of rations among the needy in different areas and around 200,000 families had so far been provided with 15-day rations.

Registration in govt app

All the welfare organizations have been requested to download the government APP https://play.google.com/store/apps/detailes?id=inc.codelabs.krtvolunteer and get them registered there so that a joint working group could be developed for distribution of rations without duplication.

So far 12 organisations have downloaded the app and joined the app of the government.

The chief minister said that Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, Local Government Minister Nasir Shah and CM’s adviser on law Murtaza Wahab would be coordinating with the welfare organisation for fair distribution of rations on the doorstep of the people.

Advisory for intended passenger

The chief minister said that there was a ban on inter-provincial passenger transport, but even then people from Sindh left for Punjab and became stuck at the border.

He said that the Punjab government, in consultation with the Sindh government, had sealed its border for passenger transport, and therefore they would not allow them to enter Punjab. “I would like to advise you not to leave your home during these critical days,” he said.

The chief minister said that through the home department he had issued directives to all the deputy commissioners to not to allow inter-district passenger transport.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2020