Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed satisfaction with the progress and transparency of the Prime Minister’s Fuel Relief Programme and directed authorities to cancel the licences of petrol pumps that fail to serve registered beneficiaries. He chaired a review meeting in Islamabad and described the technology-based subsidy as a useful tool for public welfare. The meeting was told that more than 15.5 million citizens have registered, including 15.06 million motorcycle owners and 449,000 owners of vehicles with engines of up to 800cc. Payments of Rs28.6 billion had been made under the scheme as of 4 November 2026, a figure that Arab News converted to about $103.4 million.
The programme runs on a digital token system. According to the review, more than 63.15 million fuel subsidy tokens have been issued and over 59.44 million of them have been redeemed. To benefit, citizens register on a digital platform, and once their details are verified they receive a digital token linked to their personal and vehicle details, according to Arab News. The scheme was announced on 13 September to shield lower-income motorists from higher petrol prices, with motorcycle and rickshaw users receiving a weekly token worth Rs500 and owners of cars up to 800cc receiving Rs100 off per litre on up to 10 litres every 10 days. Registration works through a short code, 9771, and verification devices were sent to petrol pumps so that a pump can confirm a token on the spot.
The prime minister said simplifying the registration and disbursement procedures has raised the number of registrations and allowed more eligible citizens to benefit. Separate call centres have been set up for consumers and for petrol pumps to provide information about the programme and deal with complaints. He appreciated Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja, IT and Telecommunication Secretary Zarar Hashim Khan, and their team for developing an effective monitoring mechanism and dashboard for the scheme. The dashboard allows officials to track registrations, tokens, and redemptions across the country, which is the basis for the numbers presented at the meeting.
The directive on licences targets a problem that can undermine such schemes, which is the refusal of pumps to honour valid tokens. Under the scheme, pumps are repaid by the government through the State Bank, according to guides to the scheme, so they have no financial reason to turn away a registered customer, but the prime minister’s order shows that some beneficiaries may have faced refusals. The reports on the meeting do not say how many complaints have been received, how many pumps have been penalised, or what process will be used before a licence is cancelled, so the details of enforcement have not been announced. The prime minister’s remarks also did not mention any change to the subsidy amounts or any extension of the scheme beyond its current categories.
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