Advisor To Ombudsman For Continuing USC Subsidy To Deserving Families After Ramazan

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Mar, 2024) Advisor to Federal Ombudsman Secretariat Regional Office Karachi, Syed Zakir Hussain on Wednesday paid a visit to an outlet of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) to review the availability of essential items on subsidized rates to the public and the status of service delivery.

Syed Zakir Hussain along with a team from the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat inspected different sections of the Utility Store, checked quality and prices of available items of daily use, and also inquired about the process of sale of subsidized commodities to consumers.

Speaking at the occasion, he informed that the visits of Utility Stores were conducted on directives of the Federal ombudsman to review the facilities being provided by the government for providing relief to low-income families.

He expressed satisfaction with the stock position and availability and prices of essential items of daily use in the store as well as arrangements made to facilitate the consumers.

Syed Zakir Hussain termed the facilitation to beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) and persons with monthly income of less than Rs 60,000 (PMT-60) as encouraging and said that Utility Stores Corporation (USC) was providing subsidies on 19 different essential commodities to the deserving families in the holy month of Ramzan.

He said that every BISP registered beneficiary may purchase the subsidized essential items of daily use in a specific quantity according to the monthly quota fixed by the USC while after the month of Ramzan the subsidy will be limited to only five items.

The Advisor stressed that subsidy on 19 essential items for deserving families should continue even after Ramzan-ul-Mubarak to provide relief to them. Regional Manager USC South region Aamir Naveed and Area Manager Ghulam Akbar Bhutto briefed the FOS team USC through its country-wide network was providing hundreds of commodities of daily use to people on lower prices.

As per government policy, the BISP beneficiaries and low-income families may avail of special subsidy on 19 items of daily use including wheat flour, rice, sugar, tea, dates, cooking oil and ghee, grams, baisan (gram flour) and pulses, they informed adding that the consumer will only tell his or her CNIC number and centralized data system will verify their eligibility for special subsidy.

They further informed that the rules of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority were strictly followed by the USC while centralized software evaluated the sale and demand of every individual store and supplies were made to the store according to the requirements.

On a query, they informed that as per the government policy, the BISP beneficiaries and PMT-60 consumers were allowed to purchase 20-kilogram wheat flour, 5 kg sugar, and 5 kg ghee or 5-liter cooking oil on special subsidized rates in a month.

Earlier, Advisor to FOS secretariat regional office Karachi Syed Zakir Hussain also paid a visit to Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) Awami Markaz Office on Monday, March 25, 2024.

The Advisor received a briefing from the EOBI officers on the functions and responsibilities of the institution and also interacted with the workers present there.

The applicants informed the Advisor to FOS that inordinate delays were being made by EOBI in approval of their monthly pension and some cases they were pursuing their cases for two years.

The Advisor, on the occasion, instructed Director EOBI Arshad Rajput and other officers to resolve the legitimate issues of the applicants at the earliest.

He directed that all the issues of applicants must be reviewed in detail and those shall be addressed in the minimum possible time so that workers could be able to receive their monthly pensions.