ISLAMABAD – Federal Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima has said that 5.8 million people have registered under the government’s Fuel Relief Scheme, while 6.1 million tokens have been issued so far.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Shaza Fatima said people from across the country, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, were benefiting from the scheme. Data was also being collected province-wise to determine how many people from each province were registering and using the fuel relief tokens.
She said petroleum prices were rising due to the regional situation, which was also affecting Pakistan. In view of the difficult circumstances, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had launched the subsidy scheme to provide relief to the public, and the programme was now successfully operational.
The minister said the scheme covered two-wheelers and three-wheelers, including motorcycles, rickshaws and Qingqis, as well as cars with engines of up to 800cc.
Motorcycle, rickshaw and Qingqi users do not necessarily have to be the registered owners to benefit from the scheme. Users can register once using their registered mobile phone number and CNIC and receive the facility for the motorcycle or rickshaw they use. However, in the case of cars, only registered owners are eligible for the scheme.
She explained that motorcycle, rickshaw and Qingqi users receive a Rs500 fuel relief token once a week. The previous five-litre limit has now been removed, meaning users will receive a Rs500 discount regardless of the quantity of petrol they purchase.
For cars, the scheme provides a Rs100-per-litre discount on up to 10 litres of petrol through each token.
Shaza Fatima said the prime minister’s objective was to provide relief to people during the difficult situation. She added that the entire federal cabinet had supported the initiative, while the deputy prime minister was chairing its steering committee and Hamza Shehbaz was also personally overseeing the matter.
She said Hamza Shehbaz had held a meeting and was conducting further meetings to assess whether citizens were facing any difficulties at petrol stations while using the scheme.
The minister thanked petrol pump owners and urged them to assist motorcycle users with registration and inform them about the scheme so that the facility could reach the people most in need.
Shaza Fatima said 5.8 million people had registered and 6.1 million tokens had been issued within eight days. She described the figures as encouraging, adding that implementing the scheme within such a short period had been challenging.
She said OGRA, the State Bank of Pakistan, the Petroleum Division, the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister’s Office and other institutions had worked together to make the initiative possible.
