24,829 families of dead beneficiaries paid out

Islamabad : As many as 24,829 families have withdrawn cash nationwide under the Ehsaas emergency cash payments to families of eligible dead beneficiaries—a process that has been ongoing since December 2020.

Overall, 169,107 applications were received till September 30, 2020; of these, 65,954 have been processed, and of these, 5,024 cases were ineligible.

Furthermore, of the currently approved 60,930 applications, payments are currently being made to 23,464 families and bank accounts of 12,637 families are being opened and analysed this month. Also, SMS messages featuring details of payments to next of kin of dead beneficiaries are being sent accordingly. The scrutiny of 103,153 applications is presently ongoing and once due diligence is completed, the disbursements will be made to all eligible applicant families till February 28, 2021.

According to Ehsaas policy for the next of kin; for category I of emergency cash recipients that comprised the Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries, the payment to next of kin is being made in order of priority to an adult unmarried daughter, mother, unmarried adult sister, husband or father. Nevertheless, payment to families of beneficiaries who fall in categories II, III, IV and V can be made either to the spouse, eldest adult unmarried daughter or an eldest adult son in the order of priority. Under Ehsaas Emergency Cash, one-time cash grants have been delivered to 14.8 million deserving families with disbursements reaching Rs179 billion till October 30, 2020. Category I comprised the known vulnerable or the 5 million existing Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries. Category II comprised 4 million ‘new poor’ identified on request through 8171 SMS messaging service. Category III comprised more than 3.5 million also, the new poor, who opted in as deserving by raising their need at the district level. Category IV beneficiaries comprised 1.263 million individuals that applied through the web-based portal hosted on the Prime Minister’s website. Category V of 2.45 million recipients was created to cater for the spillover eligible lists of Category II and III.

The last date of cash disbursements to heirs of dead beneficiaries has been extended till the end of February 2021 as long as the application was submitted till September 30, 2020.