Speaker, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Kiramatullah Khan has said that an amount of Rs 74 billion would be distributed amongst unemployed and deserving women under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) during the current financial year.
Addressing a function held under the auspices of Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) regarding workshop on conducting survey poverty census, he said that the monthly stipend of Rs 1000 to be distributed amongst the poor women would be doubled next year. The workshop was attended by Provincial Minister, Liaquat Shabab, MPA Malik Tehmash, Regional Director SRSP, Imdadullah, RPM Abdul Rehman and a large number of the elders of Peshawar.
He said that BISP is a welfare programme and urged the government officials to maintain honesty and transparency in the distribution of the fund, saying no negligence would be tolerated in this regard. He paid tributes to those party leaders who gave practical shape to the vision of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto to start the programme for the mitigation of the problems of the poor.
Speaker Kiramatullah Khan said that earlier conditionalities like passport and bank account were disqualifying the applicants due to which out of 1000 only 400 applications from his constituency were accepted. He said that on his request to President, Asif Ali Zardari and the Chairperson, BISP, Farzana Raja started survey of the poverty in the country to guarantee the delivery of the right of the poor at their doorstep. Briefing the participants of the aims and objectives of the workshop, Regional Director, SRSP, Imdadullah Khan said the world faced a wave of price hike in the year 2007-08 in the world. In light of that situation the government of Pakistan started the programme with initial fund of Rs 35 billion to extend financial assistance to the poor at national level.
For the success of the programme, the government distributed 8000 forms through every member of the National Assembly and Senators while members of the provincial assemblies of all four provinces were provided 1000 farms each for distribution in their respective constituencies. Through the process 2.2 million families were registered and unfortunately 30 percent non-deserving people also become part of the support programme that prompted the government to launch the country wide survey. The survey, he said, would be completed in a period of 90 days.