Benazir Income Support Programme: Balochistan, remote areas: minister says ‘missing number’ quite high

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Poverty Alleviation Shazia Marri on Thursday admitted that the missing number of eligible people from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is high especially in Balochistan and in other remote areas.

This she stated while briefing the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Naseebullah Bazai.

The committee was briefed by the secretary BISP about the quota of beneficiaries of the programme in Balochistan, and the number of districts benefiting from the BISP in Balochistan.

He said that there is no quota system in the BISP.

The proportion of the eligible population in each province is determined. A door-to-door survey is conducted of the eligible family in which 65 different types of questions are asked and the PMT (Proxy Mean Test) score is taken. Such a deserving family is identified by - 0-100, the family is given a score. People with scoring 32 and below it falls into the poverty line. Those with a score of 32-37 also fall into poverty but do not have enough money for it. The amount has been increased from Rs7,000 to Rs8,875 per family. He further informed that currently, the number of beneficiaries of the BISP is nine million Punjab’s population is 51 percent and beneficiary share is 47 percent.

Sindh’s population is 26 per cent and beneficiary share is 26.6 per cent. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s population is 13.3 per cent while the beneficiary share is 18 per cent. The population of Islamabad is one per cent while the beneficiary share is 0.1 per cent. The population of Gilgit-Baltistan is 0.6 per cent while the beneficiary share is 1.1 per cent. The population of Balochistan is 5.4 per cent while the beneficiary share is 5.1 per cent. He said that Balochistan’s ratio should be more than 5.4per cent and measures are being taken for this.

He told the committee that 125 desks of the NADRA have been made for the registration of deserving families in Balochistan to register those families who have been left out of registration for the BISP.

He said that in July, with the help of Germany, 500 motorcycles are being given to Balochistan, for which people will be deployed for 18 months who will go to register people in remote areas and where vehicles cannot go. Apart from this in Balochistan, 20 Hino trucks are being operated in which there will be one NADRA employee, one cash employee from the BSP, and one registration employee.

The chairman committee suggested that the people to be deployed for 500 bikes for 18 months should be from the districts of Balochistan.

Minister for Poverty Alleviation Shazia Marri said that missing numbers are high especially in Balochistan and in other remote areas. In addition, steps are being taken to create bank accounts for women in Waziristan to empower women.

The NDMA officials briefed the committee about the grant of Rs40 billion given to BISP by the federal government and the distribution of the grant for the rehabilitation and relief of the recent flood victims. The Minister for Poverty Alleviation informed the committee that not Rs40 billion but Rs70 billion were released by the prime minister - this amount is less related to flood victims and more to poverty. Around seven million rupees have been distributed to flood-affected families at the rate of Rs25,000 per family.

The Member NDMA briefed the committee about the recent flood damages and relief measures in Pakistan. He said that a total of 316,000,000 tents has been given to the flood-affected people across the country including Balochistan under the NDMA and 79,790 tarpaulins, nearly two million mosquito nets, 35,880 blankets, more than 6,000 food packs and 34,390 hygiene kits have been provided. In response to Senator Keshoo Bai’s question, the official said that even now there is water in some districts of Sindh, due to which wheat cultivation and sowing were severely affected. The chairman committee directed that in the next meeting, the NDMA chairman should come to the committee meeting and brief regarding the relief assistance. The committee was informed that one million rupees are given to the families of those who died in natural calamities through the PDMA. Around 1,011 cross-checks have been issued to the PDMA while the details of 664

are not complete.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023