CM orders using Rs1bn allocated for assistance of minorities

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the minorities affairs department to utilise the Rs1 billion allocated for providing financial assistance, medical treatment, scholarships, marriage assistance, natural calamity assistance and Yatra (pilgrimage) assistance to the deserving and needy people belonging to the minorities.

During a meeting of the minorities affairs department he chaired at the CM House on Thursday, Shah said Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been pressing hard to strengthen the minorities by providing financial assistance, scholarships and other facilities to the deserving people.

This is why the provincial government has started two girls hostel projects in Karachi to house poor girls from the minorities coming to the city to pursue an education, he added. The CM said that 4,157,880 people, or 10,000 households, of the minorities are economically and socially segregated in the province. Of them, 460,000 are Christians, 3,592,500 Hindus and 105,380 other minorities, he added.

“The minorities affairs department’s mandate is to safeguard and promote the minorities’ welfare,” he said. He directed the department to launch welfare work, including financial assistance and scholarship programmes.

In response to a question, he was informed that there are 911 religious places, including 734 temples, 141 churches, 23 Gurdwaras and one Parsi place of worship. He directed the minorities affairs department to get the decaying buildings of these worship places repaired, and to get the overhauling and expansion works in progress expedited.

Shah said he had allocated Rs366.463 million to install CCTV cameras at 253 sensitive temples and other religious places. He directed the minorities affairs department to speed up the project.

He said his government had allocated Rs1 billion for the welfare of the minorities, but it has not been distributed. MPA Mukesh Chawla said he had formed and was heading a 17-member Non-Muslim Welfare Committee to scrutinise the cases for financial assistance.

Chawla said that Rs580 million has been allocated for repair & maintenance, Rs150 million for financial assistance, Rs120 million for medical treatment, Rs50 million for scholarships, Rs50 million for marriage, Rs20 million for natural calamity and Rs30 million for Yatra.

Giving a break-up of the grant-in-aid funds, he said that Rs5,000 to Rs15,000 would be disbursed among the poor/needy people four times a year under the policy. He also said that Rs200,000 would be given for medical treatment, Rs10,000 to Rs250,000 for (one-time) educational financial assistance (scholarships) to deserving students, Rs50,000 for poor/needy girls for marriage, a maximum of Rs500,000 for natural calamity-affected people and Rs200,000 for Yatra.

The CM said he had approved the establishment of two hostels for underprivileged, poor and needy girls at Swami Narayan Mandir in Karachi, for which Rs20 million has been allocated for 2024-25.

Special Assistants to CM Rajveer Singh and Lal Chand Ukrani said the funds are not enough to complete the work, so the CM approved Rs600 million to complete the work. Six schemes that are progressing at a slow pace were identified during the meeting. They include the extension of Rs19.835 million for work of Dharamshala, Larkana; and Rs26.67 for the construction of a compound wall, shade and two rooms at Hindu Massan near police station and Sant Kirpa Darbar, Taluka Naudero, District Larkana.

They also include Rs39.672 million for the rehabilitation of Hindu Massan and repair of Kandhkot Darbar; and Rs19.831 million for the rehabilitation of SSD Dham Saleh Pat, District Sukkur.

The other schemes are Rs19.82 million for the renovation of Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar, Singh Sahib, Jacobabad; Rs20 million for the repair of Rehrki Darbar, District Ghotki; and Rs14.99 million for the construction of an open shade and renovation work at SSD Temple, Madeji, and repair of Baba Jeram Das Mandir, Madeji. The CM directed the minorities affairs department to expedite the work, saying that he would release more funds if these development schemes are completed this year.