RAWALPINDI: As many as 96,000 beneficiaries registered with the Punjab government from Rawalpindi district are expected to get Rs10,000 per family under the Nighaban Ramazan Package from Monday (today).

According to official sources, the provincial government has completed the registration of deserving families with the Punjab Socioeconomic Registry (PSER).

In Rawalpindi district, more than 150,000 deserving people applied for the Ramazan package but after vetting the data, the Punjab government declared over 96,000 of them eligible for the one-time aid.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that under the initiative, every eligible individual was supposed to be given Rs10,000. The amount will be transferred into registered accounts directly.

No government-sponsored Ramazan bazaars established in Rawalpindi this year

He said that people would not need to visit any government office to get financial aid like in the past.

The official said last year, the government delivered essential food items to deserving families’ doorsteps but the initiative faced challenges.

He said this year, the government came up with a new idea to offer money directly to deserving individuals.

The official added that the district administration would ensure that the people get money.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema said that under the Nighaban Ramazan Package, people were receiving money from the first Ramazan, adding that the remaining people would start getting the money from today.

He said that the government was providing money to those who were not registered with the federal government and other organisations.

Apart from this, he said that the district administration has set up eight Ramazan bazaars to provide essential food items at wholesale rates to citizens.

“Sugar is available at Rs130 per kg at these bazaars alongside wheat flour and vegetables which are also available at reasonable rates,” he said.

The deputy commissioner conveyed that though there were no funds to set up these bazaars, the district administration provided space to the wholesale dealers and farmers to bring vegetables directly from farms to these bazaars and in return, the administration would not charge any fee.

Moreover, he said that the stallholders of these bazaars have been advised to not sell any sub-standard food items.

“The assistant commissioners and other district administration officials will monitor the quality and price of these markets,” he said.

He added that price control magistrates were also visiting the markets to inspect the quality and availability of essential items.

Mr Cheema said that the provincial government has made it clear that no negligence would be tolerated in this regard.

He said that for the availability of sugar in the market, the provincial government was working to bring sugar from industry to market so the prices could be further lowered.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2025