Two schemes under BISP await BoD's nod

The board of directors of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has to decide the fate of two key programmes - Waseela-e-Rozgar and Waseela-e Haq. The management has currently put on hold these two programmes citing operational reasons and redesigning them and if the board gives a nod, these programmes may be launched again next year.
A senior official told Business Recorder Friday that the matter was already discussed in the previous meeting of the board of directors but a final decision has yet to be made.
The management was initially intending to redesign both the programmes as there were some complaints about mismanagement and corruption in the schemes.
"A special team has also been set up to look into the complaints and suggest a way forward to re-launch the programmes," he said.
The BISP management is currently not receiving new applications for both the programmes from its beneficiaries, Waseela-e-Rozgar and Waseela-e-Haq, he added.
Under the Waseela-e-Rozgar scheme, the BISP provided technical and vocational training enabling the underprivileged potential workers to work in formal and informal sectors and earn a livelihood and to alleviate their socio-economic status and help them get out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
The programme offered a training course of four to six months to the selected beneficiaries with a monthly stipend of Rs 6,000. So far about 57,000 people have been trained under the programme at a cost of about Rs2 billion.
The Waseela-e-Haq scheme was meant to provide small loans of up to Rs300,000 to the randomly selected beneficiary families currently receiving the cash transfers under the BISP to be validated through the programme eligibility criteria. So far about 6,000 families have benefited from the programme.
Former Chairperson of the BISP, Enver Baig claimed MoUs were signed with numerous chambers of commerce and financial institutions for training of unskilled youth and their employment in different organisations.
The schemes have now been suspended with an aim to redesign them and the officials insist that they would be launched again as soon as the board of directors accord formal approval for them.
The official said redesigning of these projects was necessary as there were complaints of awarding the funds to 'favourites' in different parts of the country.
As for the disbursement of Rs1,500 per month to the beneficiaries, the official said that Rs42 billion have been disbursed among the beneficiaries in the first two quarters of the financial year and to-date all other targets have been achieved. Secretary BISP, Shabbir Ahmad could not be reached for comments.