Apart from the death registration, another major issue involving the eligible applicants for Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme is related to thumb impression biometric verification. A source in NADRA told Business Recorder that thumb impression verification of elderly persons was a commonly faced problem. Keeping it in view, banks, government departments and telecom offices had exempted the elderly persons from biometric verification, the source said. In case, the eligible candidates for Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme are facing problems in thumb impression verification due to technical hitches, the same are removed, the insider said. However, in case the thumb impression cannot be verified due to old age, then NADRA issues an exemption receipt containing the inscription 'Not Verified' through its offices and private franchises offering NADRA e-Sahulat services, the source added.
Recently, Dr Sania Nishtar, the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, had taken up the issues of death registration and biometric verification with NADRA following which the Authority had opened its offices across Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) to facilitate the beneficiaries of Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme and rest of the public.
Last month, NADRA had shut down its offices nationwide as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.
As soon as the identification and death registration process is finalized, the eligible candidates for Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme are required to contact BISP (Benazir Income Support Programme) offices in their tehsils/areas for easy payments. They can receive the cash assistance of Rs 12,000 after receiving the final notification on their phones. Moreover, NADRA has also extended the validity period of the eligible beneficiaries, which have expired, till July 2020.