May 11, 2020 – Islamabad: Since last Friday May 8, 2020 Ehsaas has commenced disbursements to beneficiaries under category 3 of the Ehsaas Emergency Cash program. Till today, 163,419 category 3 beneficiaries identified through district administration have been paid out Rs. 1.961 billion. Concurrently, payments to category 2 beneficiaries, who entered the program through 8171 SMS service, are also underway. So far, 2.945 million category 2 beneficiaries have been served Ehsaas Emergency Cash worth Rs. 35.347 billion. Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation remarked, “The emergency cash transfers are providing purchasing power to labour class to buy food rations and meet their needs.”  Payments to category 1 that includes regular Kafaalat beneficiaries have almost been completed with Rs. 54.303 billion paid out to 4.403 million beneficiaries. Cumulatively, so far, 7.512 million deserving families under categories I, II and III of Ehsaas Emergency Cash program have collected financial assistance of Rs.12,000 each that sums up to Rs. 91.611 billion.