ISLAMABAD - Over nine million families have registered to seek support un­der the Ehsaas Rashan Riayat Program so far.

While over 10,000 retail units have also expressed their inter­est and have registered with the program, an official source re­vealed. The program is getting overwhelming response from the public. Ehsaas Rashan web­site has had more than 500 mil­lion visits over the last month.

The Ehsaas Rashan program is being introduced on the direct instructions of the Prime Minis­ter. Under this program, 20 mil­lion families with income below Rs.50,000 and those who fall be­low a certain poverty score will be entitled to receive a discount of Rs. 1000 every month on the purchase of three grocery items: flour, pulses, cooking oil/ghee. 

The cabinet approved this program in the first week of November and shortly thereaf­ter a communication campaign was launched to solicit applica­tions for this program. 

The next phase in this pro­gram involves analysis which will be done later this month. Eligible families will receive con­firmation of their eligibility sta­tus through an SMS from 8171, which is the Ehsaas SMS identity. 

Eligible families will receive confirmation of their eligibility status through an SMS from 8171

This is an end-to-end digital program and involves processing of the subsidy through a mobile point of sale which will be down­loadable by the Kiryana retailer. 

The government is encourag­ing more retailers to enroll in the program. Ehsaas Rashan Ri­ayat is expected to start accru­ing benefits from the last week of December. 

Those families who are desir­ous of registering and want to seek benefit from the program should SMS their National Identity number to 8171 mak­ing sure that the mobile phone which is used for texting is reg­istered in the name of the same national identity card number. Kiryana merchants desirous of participating should register at ehsaasrashan.pass.gov.pk visit the nearest branch of National Bank of Pakistan.