‘Panahgahs’ feed 5,000 people daily

Islamabad: The public, private and civil society partnership for pro-poor initiatives are gaining ground in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as over 5,000 poor and needy people are being served nutritious food at multiple Shelter Homes and Ehsaas-Saylani Food Centers daily in an organized manner.

These remarks were made by the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Shelter Homes (Panahgahs) Naseem ur Rehman here during his visit to a Ehsaas-Saylani Food Centre also known as ‘Langar Khana’ at sector F-10. The visit was meant to sensitize the beneficiaries of the scheme against the anti-virus SOPs (standard operating procedures).

Talking to media, he said at least 10 food centres of Ehsaas-Saylani and six shelter homes (Panahgahs) were operational in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad which had been catering food and accommodation needs of a whooping number of poor and needy.

The centres and shelter homes were located in various areas of the two cities including sector F-6, F-10, G-9, G-10, Sabzi Mandi, holy family hospital, Liaqut Chowk, Fawara Chowk, and others.

“The redeeming feature is that the ‘Panahgahs’ and ‘Langar Khaney’ have transcended beyond the simply charitable work into a very organized distribution of nutritious meals to the poor with a newfound sense of dignity,” he remarked.

The focal person said those places had become the ultimate destination for daily wage earners who came to the big cities in a search of livelihood.

Such philanthropist acts provided great support to the migrant daily wage earners in boosting their savings.

Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqat also boasted over the success of those poor-friendly initiatives and pointed out the functioning of ‘Panahgahs’ even during the corona times.

“Panahgahs have remained functional despite the prevalence of coronavirus in Islamabad.

Around 180,000 people were given food during the last four months. 30,000 were provided shelter and out of them, not a single case of the coronavirus was reported,” he tweeted and shared a video, highlighting strict compliance of the anti-COVID SOPs at ‘Panahgahs’.