ISLAMABAD: Free public transport services will be available in Islamabad and Punjab for the next 30 days, starting tomorrow, as directed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. This initiative, announced by Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi on social media platform X, aims to provide relief amid the global economic crisis, with the Ministry of Interior covering the associated costs amounting to 350 million rupees.

According to Radio Pakistan, the Punjab government has also launched a comprehensive relief package. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif announced that free public transport would be available across all cities in Punjab, including on the Orange Line Train, Metro Bus Service, Speedo Bus, and Green Electric Buses. Additionally, a subsidy scheme has been approved for motorcyclists, providing a subsidy of one hundred rupees on twenty litres of fuel for each registered motorcycle owner.

The Punjab government has also announced financial support for agriculture, food security, and farmers, offering a subsidy of 100 rupees per litre of diesel per acre for cultivators.

In a related development, the Sindh government has unveiled a 55 billion rupee subsidy package targeting motorcycle users, small growers, and public transporters. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced that registered motorcycle owners would receive two thousand rupees per month, transferred directly to their accounts through an app developed by the excise department. Additionally, a subsidy of fifteen hundred rupees per acre is allocated to 336,000 small growers with up to twenty acres of land. The package also includes support for transporters to stabilize transport fares, with intra-city buses receiving an additional forty thousand rupees due to higher fuel consumption.