Send CNIC number to 786 to get petrol subsidy: finance minister

Federal Minister of Finance Miftah Ismail announced Saturday the process for deserving families to benefit from the petrol and diesel subsidies as part of the relief package announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in his speech to the nation on Friday.

Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, the Minister of Finance said that the families that are part of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). will automatically get Rs2000 under the “Prime Minister Sasta Petrol Sasta Diesel Scheme.”

Households who are not part of the BISP database will need to send their ID numbers to 786 to verify eligibility, Ismail added.

However, he clarified that the ID card number should belong to a woman, as the money would only be transferred to the woman’s head of household.

Miftan stated that the government would verify the beneficiary and that if their family income was less than 40,000 Rs, they would get the money.

He said the amount of the subsidy was equal to 5 percent of these families’ total income, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the Average Pakistanis spend five percent on transportation.

He said the scheme is expected to benefit more families of 14 million people, of whom 7.3 million are already registered under BISP.