RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Zakat Department has agreed to start a new project to help pay fines for prisoners who have finished their jail time but cannot leave because they cannot pay the penalties.
As per the private media report, they have set aside Rs50 million for this project. The department has also decided to give more money each month to poor families who do not have much money. The amount will go from Rs1,500 to Rs2,000.
For families who cannot afford weddings, the Zakat marriage grant will increase from Rs25,000 to Rs0.1 million.
After being stopped for 13 months, financial help for more than 0.3 million families who get Zakat money will start again as a gift before Eidul Fitr.
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To make this happen, the government has been told to give the Zakat money collected from banks during Ramadan.
The Zakat Department has asked the inspector general of prisons for a list of prisoners who can benefit from this project.
They will start paying the fines to free these prisoners one week before Eidul Fitr. Jail sources say that thousands of prisoners who have completed their 5- to 10-year sentences are still in jail only because they cannot pay their fines.
Keep in mind that earlier reports said Punjab’s jails have more prisoners than they can hold. Jails across the province are 80 percent overcrowded.
According to the report, Punjab’s jails can hold 37,563 prisoners, but 43 jails have more than 67,000 prisoners. The number of women prisoners is 1,167, and the number of underage prisoners is 932.
High-security cells and barracks can hold 6,616 prisoners. These high-security cells and barracks are set up in Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, and Mianwali.
