Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed relevant ministries to collaborate with the private sector in raising awareness about the procurement of the Rs5,000 Ramadan Relief Package through digital wallets for deserving families, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

The move comes after the government launched a Rs20 billion Ramazan relief package earlier this month for four million deserving families — about 20 million people — across the country.

Today, while reviewing the monitoring mechanism of the Ramazan Relief Package at the National Telecommunication Corporation in Islamabad, the PM directed the relevant ministries to sit with the private sector and revisit the relief package’s awareness campaign in terms of its effectiveness and outreach.

“The withdrawal from the digital wallets is about 20 per cent, which is because of lack of awareness,” the report quoted him as saying.

“The families in need of relief are unable to access it due to a lack of awareness,” the report said, adding that the PM directed ministries to ask families to call 9999 for the required information about the digital wallets.

He also demanded inputs from the relevant stakeholders within a week to further expand the volume of the relief package.

Traditionally, the prime minister’s Ramazan package is offered to the general public through Utility Stores. However, the government decided to distribute the Ramazan Relief package without the involvement of the Utility Stores’ Corporation to prevent corruption and the distribution of low-quality commodities.

Instead, the prime minister decided that each family would receive Rs5,000 through digital wallets.

“It is the first time that cash transfers of five thousand rupees are being made to the deserving families in the most transparent manner under [the] Ramazan relief package so that they could purchase items of their own choice and requirements,” he said.

The digital wallet mechanism is devised by relevant authorities and institutions, including ministries, the State Bank of Pakistan, the National Database and Registration Authority, Benazir Income Support Programme and tech companies, which worked “day and night to devise a digital mechanism”.