ECC approves cash assistance for labour affected by coronavirus

The ECC in its meeting at the Cabinet Division approved the Emergency Cash Assistance (Criteria and Mechanism) to the labour whose livelihoods has been affected by the COVID_19 Pandemic.

The announcement was made earlier by the Prime Minister and required the formal approval of the ECC. The meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet was chaired by the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

The Prime Minister on May 3rd 2020 announced that the funds collected through PM’s COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Assistance Fund 2020 will be used to assist the labour whose livelihood have been affected due to the lockdown and its impact on the economy.

In his announcement the PM directed that the funds shall be disbursed through Ehsaas Emergency Cash program.

The PM had also announced that for every rupee donated the government shall match 4 rupees in the fund. The budget envelop of Rs 75 billion released to BISP out of the 200 billion earmarked in PM’s relief package for distribution among labour in the country will be used for this purpose.

The modalities of the disbursement are worked out by Finance Division, Poverty Alleviation Division and BISP. BISP Board has approved that in order to identify the beneficiaries for Ehsaas Labour (Category-iv) the eligibility criteria used for Category –III of Ehsaas Emergency Cash may be used.

The applications will be received only through Ehsaas Labour portal for inclusion of beneficiaries in Category-iv. Cash disbursement of Rs 12000,( one time assistance) will be made to eligible applicants through existing payment mechanism of BISP. Provinces, AJK, GB and ICT will be allocated quota in Ehsaas Labour assistance in accordance with their population share.