Govt to provide free flour to 1m people of Islamabad in Ramazan.

ISLAMABAD: In a major step for relief of the lower and middle class, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday decided that the federal government would distribute wheat flour among one million residents of the federal capital, free of charge during the holy month of Ramazan.

The prime minister, chairing a high-level meeting to discuss the measures for reducing the impact of inflation on the lower and middle-income classes, said the government was striving to minimise the difficulties faced by these income groups.

He also invited the provincial governments of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to become part of the scheme. The prime minister instructed the authorities concerned to take advantage of modern technology to ensure transparency in the distribution of free wheat flour.

The meeting was informed that as per the prime minister's directives, a programme for supply of free wheat flour in the outskirts of Islamabad during the Holy Month of Ramazan was in final stage that would benefit around 150,000 households in the federal capital. The prime minister also, in principle, decided to provide petrol for the motorcycle and rickshaw owners on reduced rates as a programme for their relief had been designed.

Different proposals were...