Saudi envoy hands over 20,000 ration bags to governor Sarwar

LAHORE:King Salman Aid and Relief Centre announced aid package of one million dollars for unemployed Pakistanis suffering from corona pandemic.

In the first phase, Saudi Prince Nawaf Bin Saeed Al Maliki handed over 20,000 ration bags to Governor Ch Muhammad Sarwar. This ration will be distributed in Lahore and other cities of Punjab.

Governor Muhammad Sarwar, Saudi ambassador in Pakistan Nawaf Bin Saeed Al Maliki and representatives of Hayat Foundation Shahzad Ahmed, deputy manager Kehkashan Tabasum, Muneeb Ahmed, Khalid Raheem and others attended the event. The governor offered thanks to Saudi representatives and Hayat Foundation representatives.

He said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are two iron brothers who have deep brotherly relations. Whenever one faces difficulty, other stands by him in difficult times. During corona pandemic, more than one crore and twenty lac Pakistanis have been unemployed. Provision of ration bags to them is the biggest need, the governor said and added federal and provincial governments are ensuring provision of basic sustenance to public during pandemic.

Under my supervision, Punjab Development Network is providing ration bags to half million families. We will also provide ration to people on their doorsteps during Ramazan.

Saudi Ambassador Nawaf Bin Saeed Al Maliki said, “I am happy that we are initiating supplying ration to unemployed poor families in Pakistan during Covid-19 pandemic. We are working along Governor Muhammad Sarwar. King Salman Aid and Relief Centre is providing aid during Covid-19 pandemic in 49 countries including Pakistan. We are proud of having Pakistan as our brotherly friend since independence of Pakistan. Our strategic, economic, humanitarian and diplomatic relations are growing day by day. We are standing with people of Pakistan in crisis time, he said.

wheat procurement: The Punjab government is providing all possible facilities to farmers, and Bardana (gunny bags) is being distributed among them in a transparent manner in the province for the first time through a mobile app designed by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB). These views were expressed by Punjab Chief Secretary (CS) Major (r) Azam Suleman Khan during a meeting held to review wheat procurement and security arrangements for the holy month of Ramzan.

Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat, Lahore Commissioner Saif Anjum, CCPO Zulfiqar Hameed and other officers concerned participated in the meeting, whereas, Inspector General of Police Shoaib Dastgir, divisional commissioners and regional police officers joined the session through video link.

The meeting was briefed that so far about 1,418,000 gunny bags have been distributed among 49,000 farmers and 345,000 metric tonne wheat has been procured in the province. In south Punjab, the crop of wheat on 47 lac acres of land and gram on 22 lac acres of land has been harvested. Wheat procurement is in process and 365,000 tonnes of the commodity is available in the stock.

The chief secretary said that protection of life and property of people is the prime responsibility of the government. He directed that foolproof security be ensured in the province during the holy month of Ramzan. The meeting was told that the security plan for Ramzan has been finalised. Peace committees have been made active and geo-tagging of mosques has been completed across the province.

The Urdu translation of 20-point SOPs for congregational and Traweeh prayers in mosques during Ramzan is being displayed at public places for awareness of citizens. The meeting also decided to engage teams of National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to resolve the issues related to biometric verification during distribution of financial assistance under the Ehsaas Programme.