Artistes and literati happy with resumption of monthly stipend

PESHAWAR: The artistes and literati have thanked the Khyber Directorate of Culture of the Pakhtunkhwa government for awarding monthly stipend to the community in acknowledgement of their skills and services to the fields.

They expressed the gratitude by staging a rally. The participants were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in support of the Directorate of Culture and the KP government.

The rally started from the Peshawar Press Club and reached the Nishtar Hall.

Artistes and literati including Tariq Jamal, Ishrat Abbas, Zulifqar Qureshi, Khalid Khattak, Ahmad Sajjad and others were leading the rally.

The participants chanted slogans in favour of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government for extending the much needed financial support to the artistes and literati. The KP government started giving Rs30,000 monthly stipend to 500 artistes and literati in the province.

The initiative was first launched in 2016 wherein 500 artistes and literati were paid the money. However, the process was discontinued in the current fiscal for non-availability of funds. The initiative was aimed at providing financial support to people associated with language and literature, performing art and visual art to compensate them as the entertainment industry was hit hard due to the long years of militancy.

Around 2,600 skilled people had applied for the stipends of which 500 were selected after scrutiny. The government has allocated Rs150 million for the purpose.

Tariq Jamal, Ahmad Sajjad, Khalid Khattak, Dina Khan and others expressed happiness over the release of stipends to the artistes and literati, saying that was a good initiative.

They said that the financial help of the people associated with the entertainment industry was the recognition of services of people of this community in their fields and would encourage the new comers to join this community.

“It would ultimately help boost and flourish the entertainment industry as well,” said Tariq Jamal.

The speakers welcomed the initiative and praised the KP government and Directorate of Culture for extending the financial support to the artistes and literati for the first time in the country.