Farzana Raja Chairman of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has said that survey for the Poverty Score Card would be completed in June 2011 and there is all set for its timely completion in the Punjab. Talking to newsmen here today she said that about 40 per cent of the survey has been completed in various districts of the province.
However "The surveyors are facing problems in getting information from the people as some of them are not extending co-operation being affiliated to certain political parties while others are refusing the BISP's help considering it against their self respect. Whereas contrary to the situation the survey is aimed at collecting data about the living standard of people which will be forwarded to the NADRA", she said.
Initially the BISP had given the forms to MNAs and MPAs for distributing them among the poor women so that they could get Rs 1,000 per month. But the programme was halted on April 2009 and the ongoing survey was launched on October 2010 for effective and transparent identification of the poor families across the country, she told.
The contract of conducting survey in the province was awarded to Rural Support Program Network (RSPN), Ali Haidar Liaqat Noman Consultancy Firm and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) which they had to complete before June 2011. The surveyors of the firms went door to door and reduced the information about the families' status on a form consisting of 40 questions. Farzana Raja said,"Over all it was a difficult task but it will enable the government to extend support to nearly 2.2 million people." After getting the data verified by the NADRA, the BISP will give Rs 1,000 rupees to each family. In addition to this the poor families will also benefit from Wasela Haq (Rs 0.3 million to a family from 3,000 families by balloting), Wasela Rozgar (free technical training to a person from a family) and Wasela Sehat (Rs 25,000 health insurance for each family member).