ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved a Rs 75 billion relief package for labourers and lower-income people who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus lockdown in the country, Federal Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar announced on Monday.
Addressing a press conference, Azhar said that the proposed multi-billion-rupee package for daily wagers, which was proposed by his ministry last week, will now be presented in a meeting of the federal cabinet.
Under the package, Azhar announced, Rs12,000 will be doled out to 4 to 6 million families, which were not counted under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash initiative.
Separately, in a series of tweets, he announced that the ECC okayed the Chota Karobar Imdadi Package, under which the government will pay the electricity bills of small traders for three months, whenever they resume their business activities.
95% of all commercial and 80% of all industrial connections in the country will benefit from this cash injection in their businesses.
These businnesea are overwhelmingly of micro, small and medium scale.
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) April 27, 2020
Any shop or business that has a 5-kilowatt commercial connection or an industrial connection of up to 70KW will benefit from the package. Some 3.5 million small businesses will receive benefits, he added.
Azhar said that 95 per cent of all commercial and 80 per cent of all industrial connections in the country will benefit from the cash incentive.
The programme comes in addition to Rs144 billion Ehsaas Emergency Cash initiative which was announced earlier this month to support millions of people affected by the countrywide lockdown amid the pandemic.
Under the programme, the federal government is providing Rs12,000 assistance to 12 million families across the country.
