Meals on wheels: PM Imran Khan to expand Ehsaas kitchen trucks to Multan, Gujranwala, Lahore

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan plans to expand the ‘Ehsaas Koi Bhooka Na Soye’ initiative to three more cities – Multan, Gujranwala and Lahore, with an aim to eliminate hunger from the country.

The initiative is about distributing cooked meals at designated delivery points to people in need, especially labourers, daily wage earners, women and children who cannot access the Ehsaas Langar sites in industrial zones and bus stations.

The prime minister, at an event to be held at PM House, will launch four food trucks that will serve free food to daily wage earners across Multan, Gujranwala and Lahore.

Read more: What is the Ehsaas Mobile Langar project; who will benefit?

Special Assistant to PM on Social Welfare Senator Dr Sania Nishtar and Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal Managing Director Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar will brief the prime minister on the expansion plan of the free food service.

At least 12 truck kitchens are already running in five cities. With an addition of four trucks under the expansion plan, the total number of vehicles will increase to 16.

By October, the Ehsaas Koi Bhooka Na Soye (EKBNS) operations will be expanded to all four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan with an overall fleet of 40 food trucks in 29 cities that will feed 40,000 people everyday and 1.46 million people annually.

Under the EKBNS programme, the distribution of free food helps the poor save their hard-earned money for their families. Each truck feeds 1,000-1,500 people daily on specified service points, twice a day and seven days a week.

Designed to serve healthy meals, the EKBNS truck kitchens are well-equipped with safe cooking appliances. The meals are cooked, stored and served from a truck kitchen. To date, 831,625 meals have been served across Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Islamabad.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan had declared his resolve for the year 2021 that EKBNS would be introduced to make sure that no one goes to bed hungry.

On March 10, the EKBNS was officially launched by the prime minister to serve free meals to deserving populations in twin cities, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Centered on lessons from the initial phase, the innovative EKBNS programme is now being upscaled phase-wise to other cities.

Sitting under the Ehsaas umbrella, this programme runs through a public private partnership whereby Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal is responsible for the operations of the food trucks and Saylani Welfare International Trust provides the meals.

To solicit public donations for the expansion of the programme, ‘Ehsaas Koye Bhooka Na Soye Fund’ has already been established by the prime minister. The public can deposit donations in cash or through a crossed cheque in favour of, ‘Ehsaas Koye Bhooka na Soye’ through branches of any of the commercial banks operating across the country.

The contributions can also be made at field offices of State Bank of Pakistan Banking Services Cooperation in 15 cities across the country. Overseas Pakistanis can also send their donations to any commercial bank in Pakistan using the account details given at the bank websites.