On Tuesday, March 5, the Utility Store Corporation (USC) is scheduled to introduce the Prime Minister’s Ramazan Relief Package 2024, valued at Rs 7.5 billion.
According to a USC spokeswoman on Monday, the prime minister had authorized a special subsidy of Rs 7.5 billion to give people subsidized rates on consumable commodities during the holy month of Ramadan.
He stated that under the package, the USC will provide subsidies for nineteen fundamental food products, including rice, tea, spices, milk, dates, flour, ghee, edible oil, sugar, pulse gram, white gram, and besan.
According to the spokesman, the USC would make sure that all food products are widely available at its locations to accommodate customers’ demands throughout the holy month.
The targeted subsidy would only be available to impoverished households, or about 200 million individuals, who enrolled with the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) under the PMT-60 category rather than the PMT-40 category, he said.
According to the spokesperson, recipients of the BISP would receive a 10-kg bag of wheat for Rs 648, ghee for Rs 365 per kg, and sugar for Rs 109 per kg. Edible oil would receive a subsidy of Rs 25 per litre.
In the same way, he mentioned the subsidies of Rs 25 per kg for white and pulse grains, Rs 50 per kg for dates and gram flour (besan), Rs 25 per kg for broken, Silah, and Basmati rice, Rs 100 for 800 grams of tea, and Rs 30 per liter for packaged milk.
He said that pricing for drinks and spices will also be lower.
He stated that the households enrolled with the BISP would get a total of 20 kg of wheat, 5 kg of sugar and ghee, and 3 kg of rice, pulses, and cooking oil from the USC; there would be no cap on the purchase of other food products.
In order to get the package, the spokesperson instructed the worthy people who were not enrolled in the BISP to get in touch with the program’s regional offices or approved utility stores right away.
He claimed that the USC has negotiated special rates with its suppliers and vendors for regular consumers in addition to the BISP.
He said that over a thousand things would have a special discount of up to 15 percent, and that lists of these items will be shown at USC stores.
He also said that all of the establishments nationwide will continue to operate normally to cater to the general population throughout the holy month.
He claimed that in response to public complaints over the package, a monitoring cell had been established at the USC headquarters. He said that monitoring teams had been sent throughout Pakistan to ensure transparency in the delivery.
According to the spokesman, USC employees and management were committed to serving the public interest. If customers have any issues, they can contact the help desk at (0800-05590).
