Pak provincial govt to provide Rs 15 crore assistance to minorities for setting up businesses

The government in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday decided to provide an assistance of Rs 15 crores to minorities like Hindus, Sikhs and Christians for setting up their businesses. Settle districts are those which were already the part of the province before the merger. Zada said the provincial government would also launch a housing scheme for minorities.

The government in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday decided to provide an assistance of Rs 15 crores to minorities like Hindus, Sikhs and Christians for setting up their businesses. Special Assistant to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Minorities Said Wazir Zada made the announcement during a meeting here. The provincial government decided to provide financial assistance of Rs 100 million (10 crores) to minorities of recently merged districts and allocated Rs 50 million (5 crores) to minorities of the settled areas.

Merged districts are those seven tribal agencies that became the part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas in the province. Settle districts are those which were already the part of the province before the merger.

Zada said the provincial government would also launch a housing scheme for minorities. "No compromise would be made on the quality of welfare-oriented schemes," he said. The meeting was told that 800 families of the merged districts would be given 10,000 each under grant-in-aid and 100 deserving families would be provided Rs 50,000 each under marriage grant.

Orphans from the minority communities would be given Rs. 5000 each. The meeting among others was attended by minority Members of Provincial Assembly, including Ravi Kumar and Ranjeet Singh. Sikhs are the largest minority group in the province followed by Hindus and Christians.