PESHAWAR: Advisor to the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Information Ajmal Khan Wazir on Monday said 2.2 million families of the province will be given 12,000 rupees each in the first phase under Ehsas Cash Programme.

In a media briefing in Peshawar, he said 6,000 rupees per family will be given in the next phase.

Ajmal Wazir said Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had approved one point two billion rupees from Zakat fund for one hundred thousand deserving families.

He said Pak-Afghan border at Torkham will remain open till Thursday.

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Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Dr Sania Nishtar said transfer of cash assistance of 12,000 rupees to deserving families under Ehsaas Emergency Cash Program will begin this week.

She said the federal government was providing cash assistance to support the vulnerable segments of society, affected due to lockdown in the wake of COVID-19. She said deserving people should send an SMS to 8171 and so far over 34 million messages have been received through this service. She said under this programme, a deserving family will get a one-time assistance of 12,000 rupees to cater daily needs for four months.

Elaborating the eligibility criteria, she said there will three types of messages in response of people’s SMS like eligible, ineligible, or contact to the concerned district administration. She said those, who will get a message asking to contact the district administration, are not required to go anywhere now as their particulars are being verified automatically.

She said those, who will get a message of eligibility, will be informed, in a follow up SMS, that from where and when they should collect their amount. She said beneficiaries of this programme will be finalized through proper scrutinizing mechanisms like data analytics, wealth profiling, average monthly bills, and travel history. She said the government employees were not eligible for this scheme.