A network of 46 Sahulat Bazaars across Punjab has produced decent employment opportunities for 9,200 individuals as per official statistics and is a big step in the province’s efforts to provide relief to the public with jobs.
This initiative is the first in Punjab that is run by the government to provide free home delivery of quality food items at subsidised prices.
Designed to deliver essential goods directly at the doorstep of citizens, the objective of the service is to reduce the financial burden on households by ensuring the availability of affordable items for daily use without any delivery issues.
At present the free home delivery service is in place in 35 cities via 46 Sahulat Bazaars. Residents can order critical food items with ease at prices that are up to seven per cent cheaper than the officially notified DC rates.
Under the scheme, 13 basic food commodities are being sold at reduced prices, hence helping the consumers make a saving on day-to-day purchases.
Over the last year, the Sahulat Bazaars have had a huge footfall of around 85 million visitors. During this period cumulative purchases at these outlets totalled Rs42.5 billion and this shows a huge response and dependence of people on this initiative.
The availability of vegetables and fruits in the market at wholesale rates has played a key role in this impact, and thus consumer savings are estimated at Rs1.1 billion.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has allocated an ambitious target of the completion of 30 more Sahulat Bazaars by June 30.
She has also directed the concerned to expedite efforts to gradually set up Sahulat Bazaars at all tehsils of province increasing the outreach of this initiative to more communities.
Commenting on the programme, Maryam Nawaz said that the programme has ensured easy availability of affordable and good quality food items to the public.
She further reiterated the commitment of her government to make provisions for the supply of low cost, good quality of essential goods to all citizens of Punjab by making Sahulat Bazaars an important pillar of the process.
Also read: Punjab Sahulat Bazaars: Govt delivers essential food items to over 301,000 homes
