Around eight million Pakistanis will get a total of $307 million from the Pakistan government under an income support program launched to assist the people most affected by the pandemic, reported Dawn.
 
Under the scheme, each beneficiary will get around $76 in the next six months under the second phase of the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme (EECP), an income support scheme launched by the Pakistan government in April last after the Covid crisis.

On Wednesday, the Economic Coordination Committee of Cabinet approved the proposal, making the way for the second phase of the scheme. The government also plans to add 4 million additional beneficiaries. 

The existing network of banks will be expanded for the purpose of the disbursement of payments and special arrangements will also be put in place to ensure the safe delivery of cash. 

In the first phase, the government had disbursed around $1.14 billion among 14.8 million people by September last year. The second phase was started this year, considering the impact of disruption caused by the third wave of the Covid-19.

Recently, a UN agency had also lauded the scheme and said that it avoided a catastrophic humanitarian crisis by mitigating the impact of the loss of income, especially among the most vulnerable segment.   

(SAM)