LAHORE: Punjab to launch Beggars House scheme

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

By Jawwad Rizvi
THE Punjab government is going to launch a Beggars House scheme in the forthcoming budget 2010-11 to fulfil its commitment to initiating ‘pro-poor’ projects in the province.

The News has learnt that the Beggars House scheme has been proposed by the Social Welfare Department and it is likely that the pilot project would be started from Rawalpindi. Under the proposed scheme the Punjab government will initially allocate Rs 50 to 100 million to the Beggars House management for one time only. The management will manage the project and run the affairs every year from its own resources by investing some money out of that allocated amount in bank or some other institution.

Similarly, the government has also decided to fully patronise the ‘Langer Khana’ scheme already launched with the support of philanthropists and also asked the authorities to allocate some amount for the infrastructure development of the Langer Khanas.

Sources linked with the development said that in this regard a presentation and discussion was also held with Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other PML-N leaders. They said that the chief minister appreciated the initiative of the Social Welfare Department.

Sources said that Rawalpindi Beggars House would be the pilot project of this scheme and was likely that such houses would also be established in the other big cities of the province, including Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan. Sources also said that the allocation for the most controversial Sasti Rooti Scheme was not reduced this year and expected allocation for the continuation of the project would be almost the same, Rs 7.5 billion, like the ongoing year. However, almost double amount had been spent on this scheme during the ongoing fiscal year.

Sources said that the Punjab government had already closed the Punjab Food Stamp Scheme after unearthing a huge scam in the disbursement of the money. So this scheme had been closed and the government wants to initiate further ‘pro-poor’ scheme, they said.

Sources said that though the ‘pro-poor’ schemes were in sight but to maintain transparency in these schemes would be a challenge.