EOBI beneficiaries to receive 10pc subsidy at utility stores

ISLAMABAD: The Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) and Utility Stores Corporation (USC) signed an agreement on Friday through which around eight million beneficiaries of EOBI will receive up to 10 per cent in subsidy at the utility stores. 

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari on the occasion also announced that the government will soon launch an EOBI Sahulat Card to facilitate EOBI beneficiaries.

“The partnership between EOBI and USC is a landmark initiative for giving an impetus to the government departments’ efforts in materialising the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to transform the country into a welfare state,”  Zulfi Bukhari said while addressing a press conference.

He highlighted that under the project, card holder EOBI pensioners and insured people would get a subsidy of about Rs1,000 per month on five essential food items such as wheat flour, oil, rice, grains and pulse.

He also said that the government had increased the annuity of EOBI pensioners from Rs5,250 to Rs8,500 which he added will be further increased to Rs15,000 by the end of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) tenure.

Zulfi Bukhari further said that the USC intends to add more incentives in the scheme and that EOBI beneficiaries will be able to avail such facilities after the launch of the Sahulat Card.

EOBI Chairman Azhar Hameed informed that the EOBI Sahulat Card would be launched by early August. In the initial period the card will be made available to a small number of people through a soft launch. These cards will be issued to all the beneficiaries of EOBI verified by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) at a later stage.

USC Chairman Zulqarnain Ali Khan said that the initiative would help enhance USC’s sales apart from providing financial benefits to people experiencing financial distress.