Anwar Khan

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has decided to give 30 kg of free flour to 5.75 million households during the month of Ramadan, while the distribution of flour started on March 20.

As per the procedure, free flour will be provided to households registered in the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) along with other deserving people.

According to the caretaker food minister Fazal e Elahi, a huge sum of 19.77 billion has been allocated for the Ramadan package, and 91 percent of the total population of the province (41.7 million people) will benefit from this package.

Also Read: Distribution of ‘Free Flour’ claims three Lives in KP

Fazal e Elhi said an eligible family must consist of 4 to 6 people to get the Ramadan package.

How to get free flour?

For the distribution of flour, the application developed by the Department of Food, Performance Management and Reforms Unit and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board will be used; the staff at the distribution point will check and scan the identity cards of the beneficiaries through the flour tracking system, and after the eligibility is confirmed the fixed quantity of flour will be handed over.

Food Controller Peshawar Kamal Khan told TNN regarding the procedure of the relief package that to find out the citizen’s eligibility, one should write ‘ATTA’ in English, then write his/her ID card number after giving space and send it to 8171 on his/her mobile phone, by doing so the concerned person will know whether he is eligible for this package or not, those who are eligible will also receive the name and address of the nearest point while some users may receive the message a little belatedly.

The Secretary for Food, Abid Khan said the government has given them access to the data of deserving families under the BISP, in which 51 percent of the deserving people are registered in BISP, while the data of the remaining 49 percent of the deserving people is provided by IMRU Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the Ramadan package will be distributed by the Food Department, District Administration, and Utility Stores Corporation, for which 7,600 points have been established across the province; “Among these points, 6,000 are established by Food Department and District Administration, while 1600 by the Utility Stores Corporation.

He said that the staff stationed at all the points have flour tracking system available on mobile phones or tablets.

Meanwhile, there has been a huge rush of people at the flour-distributing points since the beginning of the day, causing disorder in some places.

On the first day in Peshawar’s Naguman area, people stormed the designated mill. As per the district administration, due to a lack of awareness, people registered in the BISP in the nearby areas gathered there despite not receiving a confirmation message.

According to the administration, the angry citizens broke the doors of the flour mill and stopped the distribution process, while the staff and owners of the flour mill had to suffer a loss.

On the other hand, citizens are complaining about the delayed receipt of verification messages, and that the system is slow.

Imran, a citizen of Peshawar city, told TNN that he had sent his national identity card number from his mobile phone two days ago, however, it is not yet known whether he is eligible for this package or not.

According to official data, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s annual wheat requirement is 5.16 million metric tons, while the province’s own production is about 1.3 million metric tons. The uninterrupted supply of wheat in the province depends on the province of Punjab, which is the largest producer of wheat in Pakistan.