LAHORE, April 14: The chief minister’s `adopt-a-family’ programme may hit snags as people and organisations seem reluctant to honour commitments they made 16 months ago.

A `disaster relief management society’ formed under former chief secretary Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa on Nov 23, 2005, runs the donations-based programme to provide a Rs 6,000 monthly stipend to families hit by the October 2005 earthquake.

The programme was launched in a telethon aired simultaneously from Lahore and Dubai in December 2005, and politicians, businessmen and elected representatives supporting the government announced adoption of 4,000 families on television.

But only 2,000 families had actually been adopted by June last year. This forced the chief minister to convene a meeting and direct Mr Randhawa to ensure commitments were being fulfilled.

The society has not been able to press the individuals so far, sources told Dawn on Saturday, because most of them were more influential than the society itself which depends on the chief minister’s goodwill. Although funds were being received, a major sum was still due, they said.

They refused to identify the individuals by name, but said they included a Lahore-based minister, an owner of a leading private housing scheme, and the chamber of commerce of a city in central Punjab.

They said that although the society had been delivering the goods so far and its officials had been ensuring transparency, non-cooperation by those who had made promises was hindering progress.

“There has not been a complaint against the society or the adoption system it has devised,” a source said.