ISLAMABAD: Coordi­nated by the Centre for national uniformity, the provincial governments will now take the lead in rolling out subsidised fuel quotas to bikers, farmers and transporters through digital tools such as mobile apps, cash wallets and Kisan cards, with an estimated fiscal impact of around Rs65-70 billion per month.

The provincial chief ministers and their teams held detailed discussions on the nitty-gritties with the Centre over the past week. Based on these deliberations, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced support of Rs70,000, Rs80,000 and Rs100,000 per month for food transport vehicles, large trucks and public service buses, respectively. In addition, Rs1,500 per acre support has also been announced, given the central priority of minimising food inflation.

These announcements are based on extensive datasets from provincial governments and their district administrations, which will arrange distribution and administration from their own resources, as the Centre’s fiscal space has already been exhausted to the IMF’s tolerable limits — about Rs154bn so far.

The provinces will together pool around Rs200bn for three months on the pattern of their National Finance Commission (NFC) shares — about Rs100bn from Punjab, Rs51-52bn from Sindh, Rs15bn from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rs8-9bn from Balochistan.

The two larger provinces — Punjab and Sindh — had, in fact, insisted on passing on international prices to general retail rates so that they could provide targeted relief to priority areas and vulnerable segments.

Background discussions with government officials indicate that Punjab will spend about Rs35bn a month to provide Rs100 per litre subsidy to 22 million bikers, including 11m 70cc users and more than 765,000 goods transport vehicles, besides intercity public service transport. Of this, around Rs10bn is estimated for bikers, Rs7bn for intercity goods and public transport, and Rs18bn for farmers.

Punjab has reported more than one million farmers with Kisan cards, while total wheat sowing exceeds 16m acres. It has digital access to goods transporters and farmers through Kisan cards, digital accounts and cash vouchers.

Sindh has reported that 6-7m bikers will be provided support through mobile apps and other digital means, involving about Rs12bn per month at the rate of around Rs2,000 (Rs100 per 20 litres per head). It reportedly has more than 400,000 farmers who can be reached through Hari cards. An amount of Rs1,500 per head support will be provided to small farmers with landholdings of up to 25 acres.

Sindh, which will bear about Rs15-18bn per month, had proposed using BISP (Benazir Income Support Programme) cards as well for administering subsidies to farmers and transporters, in addition to Hari cards. However, Punjab did not agree, saying it had already developed detailed arrangements through extensive datasets and was ready to roll out the scheme.

KP is already in the implementation phase, having announced Rs2,000 per month subsidy for bikers ahead of national coordination. It has more than 1.6m bikers, with a Rs5bn monthly fiscal impact, on top of another Rs6-7bn required for other sectors.

Balochistan’s preparedness remains limited and challenging. It has been reported that data availability for registered vehicles is confined to only 6-7 districts, while elsewhere there is largely free movement of unregistered and non-customs paid transporters and vehicles.

Unregistered bikers and transporters — whether in Balochistan KP or elsewhere — will be unable to benefit from the subsidy schemes. However, Balochistan has indicated it could utilise BISP data and may initially focus on subsidising agriculture.

Meanwhile, the Centre expects the mobile app for subsidised fuel quotas for bikers to be rolled out next week across the country, with funding from the provinces. Earlier proposals to include three-wheelers and small cars have been dropped, restricting the scheme to two-wheelers only.

The technical and hardware details of the quota-based fuel supply system have been tested and finalised by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the ministries of finance, petroleum and information technology. The IT ministry, in coordination with relevant agencies, has already ordered procurement of 24,000 mobile sets to be provided — two each — at all 12,000 registered petrol stations across the country.

No government, federal or provincial, will bear the cost of these mobile sets. Instead, oil marketing companies (OMCs) will provide the devices to their retailers, with a reporting mechanism linked to Ogra. The specialised phones are estimated to cost about Rs36,000 per unit, amounting to Rs72,000 per station. Petrol stations and their OMCs are required to deposit funds into a designated government account to ensure immediate delivery of devices.

Biker/customer-based quotas of 20 litres will be linked to users’ apps via registration number and CNIC. Users will generate a digital voucher through the app, which retailers will scan or enter into their systems for automatic validation of available quota. Petrol stations will be required to dedicate specific dispensers or nozzles for two-wheelers to facilitate subsidised fuel distribution.

All OMCs will be required to appoint focal persons for each retail site to ensure smooth operations and provide their contact details to Ogra for round-the-clock monitoring and complaint redressal. Details of focal persons, including names, mobile numbers and CNICs, will be available with Ogra.

For implementation and oversight, details of retailers’ focal persons will also be shared with OMCs and the Petroleum Division. The IT ministry will provide demos and video tutorials for operating the system. In case of emergencies, a dispensation mechanism will be available through a designated approval process.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2026