August 29, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-us-Sani 30, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 28: With 40 million people living below the poverty line, Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) is facing shortage of funds to fulfil the needs of its increasing number of beneficiaries, PBM managing director Brig Sarfraz told Dawn.

He said, this year, the federal government allocated Rs2.892 billion for the PBM, which was not enough to help poor people across the country.

When asked as to how much amount the PBM needed every year under its various programmes, ranging from Food Support Programme to Individual Financial Assistance, he said: “It is not possible for me to mention some figure, but we are in desperate need of more money to extend our programmes to the poor.”

Brig Sarfraz said since the setting up of the PBM in 1991, the funds were plundered by its management, owing to the lack of administrative infrastructure, hence it remained ineffective.

However, with the revamping of the department during the last couple of years, the money has started reaching to the needy. Therefore, with every passing day, the number of applicants seeking help is increasing.

He said the PBM, in collaboration with the organizations offering financial assistance to the deserving, was in a process to formulate a joint strategy so that more people could be benefited.

At present, Pakistan National Council for Zakat, Khushali Bank and many other organizations in the private sector are running poverty alleviation programmes. But, all these agencies lack coordination and a number of cases have been detected where a person was taking financial assistance on one ground from more than one such organizations.