The Punjab government has decided to dissolve the Zakat Department and is considering integrating it into the Social Welfare Department. According to sources, the Chief Minister of Punjab has preliminarily agreed to dissolve the department and combine it with Social Welfare. However, the Punjab government has requested additional recommendations from the steering committee regarding this matter. The committee will work on a strategy to incorporate the Zakat Department into the Social Welfare Department. Recommendations to abolish the Zakat department were submitted to the Punjab Chief Minister yesterday. Back in February of this year, around 24,000 deserving Zakat recipients in the Rawalpindi division found themselves without financial aid for approximately six months. This was due to the failure to elect chairpersons for 3,510 local Zakat committees within the Punjab Zakat and Ushr department, as well as the non-release of Zakat funds. Source: Pro Pakistani