The Benazir Income Support Programme's 52 training providers and more than 21,000 beneficiaries have threatened to go on hunger strike unto death if they are not provided with their long-overdue funds. The trainers and beneficiaries of Waseela-e-Rozgar programme have been waiting for funds since June 2013. Currently, 52 training providers await a total payment of 780 million rupees.
It was promised during a meeting with trainers that all payments will be made by June 30, 2014 after completion of Tracer Study by June 10, 2014. DG BISP was tasked on May 16 to complete the study by June 10, but he failed to handle it properly, as the study was completed only in nine districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the stipulated timeframe.
A training provider of the BISP told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity that in one of the meetings, Imtiaz, holding the additional charge of Director to Chairman, committed to a partial payment of 30 percent in front of 10 trainers and said that this issue is the first agenda point for June 25 management meeting.
"Training providers were invited to BISP Headquarters on June 25, but the officials once again reneged on their promise," he said. He said the BISP management has now conveyed to them that nine districts which have been cleared by Tracer Study will get 50 percent of the payment whereas the rest of the districts will get examination fee only. "Chairman Enver Baig has refused to meet us on eight separate occasions by saying that 'I don't want to see their faces.' It's unfortunate that he isn't even ready to listen to our grievances," he said.
The programme Waseela-e-Rozgar of the BISP was envisioned and initiated in 2012 to help the less privileged with assistance of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Chinese Foundation. The 52 trainers have also moved Islamabad High Court and civil court against the BISP management for not paying them funds. The BISP had shortlisted 500 training institutions across the country to provide training to beneficiaries.
The trainer said the BISP officials were not appearing in the court to delay the case. "We are now left with no option, but to go on hunger strike to get justice," he said. Chairman BISP Enver Baig claims that non-existent training institutes trained 57,000 ghost beneficiaries through Waseela-e-Rozgar.
The trainer, however, refutes the claim of the chairman and said that active monitoring of the 57,000 trainees was put in place by BISP across the country. The monitoring was done at the level of Assistant Directors, Directors, and Director Generals of the provinces. "All training documents were verified by Directorate General of the provinces before the payments were made to Waseela-e-Rozgar training providers and beneficiaries," he claimed.
The BISP technical team visited every single institution and cleared it for training of individuals after being completely satisfied, he said. Talking about the Tracer Study, he said that the programme was completed a year ago and there is no use conducting the study now. He also urged the BISP board members, Dr Ishrat Hussain, Dr Shams Kasim Lakha, Arif Nizami, Ijaz Nabi Khan, Amjad Rasheed, and Shahnaz Wazir Ali to take notice of the issue and get the beneficiaries and trainers paid their dues.
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