Farzana Raja, Federal Minister and in charge of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), briefed Thursday the members of Punjab assembly on the Programme. It may be noted that the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced on February 18 that the BISP forms would also be given to the MPAs to ensure maximum welfare of poor strata of the society.
Farzana Raja told a thin presence of MPAs, mostly from the PPP, that the process of incorporating member of provincial assembly is being started from Punjab. It would be followed by similar exercise in other provinces soon, she added.
"Each MPA is being given 1000 forms of BISP, which means 1000 families in a provincial constituency would be catered for through this programme," she said. She further added that no additional forms could be allocated to anyone from among 371 MPAs in the Punjab assembly, as a limited amount of Rs 35 billion is allocated for the whole programme in the first phase. It may be noted that majority of the MPAs was constantly asking for more forms but the federal minister made clear that it is not possible for the government to issue forms higher than the money allocated under the programme.