Panagahs to help poor earn, not to be free riders: Sania

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the PM on Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar Thursday said Prime Minister Imran Khan's foremost priority was to uplift unprivileged segments of the society and bring less developed areas on a par with the developed regions.

"The recent development of establishing four new panagahs in different sectors of Islamabad makes it evident that the PTI-led government is materializing the concept of welfare state", she said while speaking in a Radio Pakistan's current affair program.

These four Panagahs would endure state of the art facilities for the homeless citizens, she said, adding that the residents would be provided with quality meals three times a day and free of charge take away options too. She explained that the fundamental rationale behind establishment of panagahs was to enable the needy persons to make their fortune rather than making them free riders. There were almost 27 panagahs under direct supervision of the federal government and more than 100 were operating under the provincial governments across the country, she mentioned.

Sania said poverty alleviation incurs multitudinous approaches and social protection programs were one of them. Permanent and long term solution was intertwined with the economic stability but till that time, the government was pursuing multifaceted social protection programs like Ehsas Scholarship program, subsidy program, etc.