ISLAMABAD: Punjab government should consider withdrawing a ban on philanthropic activities without getting permission from deputy commissioners and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

This was stated by Pattan, a non-governmental organisation, and Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM) in a joint press statement.

“At a time when charity needs to be encouraged, the Punjab government has attempted to strangulate all forms of help to the needy. Apparently, it is being done in order to prevent violation of social distancing.”

According to the order, all philanthropic activities by an individual, organisation or any other entity should be carried out through the PDMA which shall organise the same under standards and protocols set by the government, said the statement.

It said it was true that very often individuals and organisations did not care about keeping social distance while distributing relief items to the needy people. But the government’s proposed solution in our view is absolutely inappropriate.

“Sadly, the Punjab government has miserably failed to distribute ration or cash grants to the starving families since the corona outbreak. It is still receiving applications from the needy, then data will be analysed and then cash will be transferred to the lucky ones,” the statement said, adding in the meantime gap is being filled by individual philanthropists and charity organisations.

Now, by passing this order the government wants to strangulate them. This is a recipe for aggravating the crisis.

Both the organisations said as the order also makes mandatory for potential charities and individuals to first apply to the DCs for permission, the offices of teh DCs and PDMA should have the required number of officials to issue NOCs to all the applicants.

And what guarantees are there that officials will be able to enforce social distancing by all the NOC holder charities? And did the government calculate the time that the whole process will take and how this delay will impact on the affected population?

“Therefore, we urge the government to consider withdrawing the order and instead inculcate importance of social distancing and other important measures through social media and TV channels.”

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2020