Benazir Income Support Programme: needy families to get Rs 1,000 per month from September 1

Federal Finance Minister Naveed Qamar has said that the government will start distributing Rs 1, 000 under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) among 3.7 million most affected families by the price hike from September 1. Addressing a news conference, he said that all measures were being taken to ensure that the money reached the deserving families.
The Finance Minister said that distribution of Rs 1,000 to each deserving household would start from September 1, and added Rs 34 billion had been allocated in the current financial year. He said for this purpose, lists of deserving families was being prepared by the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) and would be completed by August 14.
The Minister held out an assurance that the (BISP), the largest direct cash grant scheme in the country's history, would be free from any element of political patronage. He said that the selection of the families would be made electronically from the Nadra list, and added that unemployed people, farmers, workers and recipient of aid from Baitul Ma'al would be eligible for this grant.
However, he clarified that the government servants would not be entitled to get assistance under the scheme. He said the financial assistance would be given to the needy families through post offices and banks. They would be required to open accounts with banks or post offices and the amount would be credited in their accounts each month, he added.
Naveed Qamar said foolproof methodology would be adopted for distribution of the amount and monitoring committees would be set up at union council level to ensure that the families whose names were included in the lists were getting the grant. He said lists of selected recipients would be displayed prominently at union council/district council offices, banks, post offices, schools, dispensaries and hospitals.