ISLAMABAD: Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Minister Shazia Marri has said that the federal government increased the quarterly cash amount being paid to each beneficiary under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) from Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,750 in the last quarter.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, she said that the government intended to further increase the stipend of Benazir Kafaalat programme.

The federal minister also announced to start a mobile service for the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER) in remote areas of Sindh, Balochistan, south Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The service which will be operational by July this year, would provide easy access to people in far-flung areas of these provinces, she said.

Some 820,000 beneficiaries who were filtered out of BISP beneficiary list by the last government, were being re-examined after they appealed to be heard, she stated.

Out of these, she said, 136,525 beneficiaries have successfully been enrolled again with BISP and they will receive their stipend in the upcoming tranche.

The minister said the incumbent government has further increased BISP’s budget from Rs 404 billion to Rs 455 billion for the upcoming financial year 2023-24.

Marri said that Benazir Nashonuma programme’s budget was increased from Rs 4.87 billion in fiscal year 2021-22 to 21.88 billion in FY 2022-23.

The minister stated that Benazir Nashonuma programme had registered 0.643 million children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers, and was all set to meet the target of 1.5 million during the next financial year 2023-24.

The federal minister said BISP functions on non-political grounds, providing financial assistance to approximately nine million women across the country, which would be expanded to 9.3 million households after the recent increase in budget. She said that the scope of this programme would be further expanded keeping in view the requirements of the deserving population.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023