Dr Sania Nishtar spot checks Kafaalat registration desk

Islamabad : In a quest to draw on lessons from the field, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr. Sania Nishtar paid an impromptu visit to Ehsaas Kafaalat registration desks set up by NADRA in Haripur. The visit aimed to overlook the self-registration process for deserving women in Kafaalat through on spot checking and feedback from people and officials. Despite heavy rains, the visit saw long queues of women who had gathered to get themselves registered.

With the official launch of Kafaalat programme by the Prime Minister on January 31, 202, Kafaalat registration desks have been opened up under first phase across 15 districts of Pakistan including Haripur. The desks will remain functional for 6 months to facilitate beneficiaries. The implementation of Kafaalat is linked to the readiness of Ehsaas survey National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER), which will be completed this year in three phases. To ensure inclusion of needy women in the survey process, Ehsaas has mobilized NADRA’s self-registration centres in all districts across Pakistan.

Dr. Nishtar stood with the applicant women in the queue, took round of the facility and interacted with women and officials to enquire about the applicant process and arrangements. She instructed the concerned officials to facilitate the women in registration process so that they do not have to wait for long hours.

Talking to women who had gathered at the desk site, Dr. Nishtar reiterated, “Ehsaas Kafaalat is the government’s safety net program through which it will give cash stipends and bank counts to 7 million most deserving and poorest women all over the country. The programme will also improve access of women to mobile phones.” She said, applications submitted through this self-registration drive will then be countered through data analytics to ensure inclusion and exclusion errors. Dr. Nishtar also issued directions to increase the number of NADRA registration desks at registration centers to better facilitate the people.

Later, she visited Alfalah Bank’s alfa pay outlets in Haripur to check the results of newly introduced payment digital payment system for Kafaalat beneficiaries.