Over 5m people register for PM’s fuel relief scheme across Pakistan

More than five million people have registered for the Prime Minister’s fuel relief scheme across Pakistan, a meeting on the programme was told on Friday.

The meeting, chaired by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Cheema, was attended by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, IT Minister Shaza Fatima and the Minister of State for Finance, along with representatives of relevant institutions and provincial governments.

The Ministry of IT and Pakistan Digital Authority gave a detailed briefing on the scheme.

The meeting was told that more than five million people had registered under the fuel relief scheme and that tokens were being issued successfully. Most issues related to registration at petrol pumps had been resolved, while payments had also largely been made to petrol pumps.

State Bank officials said outstanding payment issues would be resolved within one or two days.

Ahad Cheema said the scheme was being implemented successfully across the country on the prime minister’s directives. He directed authorities to immediately resolve registration issues faced by Qingqi rickshaw and loader owners.

The meeting was informed that unregistered rickshaws and loaders were facing difficulties because they lacked registration with the excise departments. Provincial governments, however, had started the registration process, after which eligible rickshaws would be included in the fuel relief scheme.

Cheema directed that eligible rickshaw and loader owners should not be deprived of fuel relief and called for an online portal to be activated soon to address complaints related to registration and tokens.

The Pakistan Digital Authority said efforts were under way to activate the portal for consumer complaints.

The meeting was also told that owners of registered motorcycles were benefiting from the fuel relief scheme. Cheema said real-time data on the scheme would be kept updated in line with the prime minister’s directives.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said efforts were being made to raise public awareness about the scheme, with awareness campaigns and grassroots initiatives under way.

Cheema expressed satisfaction with the performance of provincial governments and district administrations, saying the scheme was being further improved in light of feedback from parliamentarians.