VEHARI, Aug 20: A large number of deserving people, including women, have alleged that officials of the post office and Baitul Maal take bribe from them through their agents for giving them allowances under the Food Support Programme.

According to reports, each of the over 22,000 people in the district registered with the Pakistan Baitul Maal gets Rs3,000 after every six month.

Talking to Dawn at the local General Post Office (GPO) here on Monday, a group of the affected people alleged that the post office staff, who are in cahoots with Baitul Maal agents, were paying Rs2,000 to Rs2,500 per head instead of Rs3,000.

They called upon the high-ups to ban the entry of agents in the post office who were fleecing the poor people. They appreciated the prime minister’s announcement regarding the increase of allowance from Rs3,000 per head to Rs10,000.

When contacted, GPO senior postmaster Jamil Mujahid and Baitul Maal district in-charge Abdul Razzak denied charges and claimed that every deserving person was being paid the actual amount fixed by the government.

Mr Mujahid, however, said that an agent had been caught red-handed on Monday and handed over to the police.