THE Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was initiated in 2008 during the PPP-led government. The sole objective of the programme was to help out the underprivileged women.

Since its inception the number of beneficiaries has gone up into millions. The BISP has been aimed at minimising poverty. But a lot of work still needs to be done by the authorities to minimise the difficulties of its beneficiaries.

Despite the digitised system of money withdrawal, tens of thousands of people are unable to draw their cash grants (Rs4,500 quarterly) as they are unable to operate ATMs, especially in rural areas. Therefore, most of the time their cards are blocked for entering the wrong PIN code. Once the card is blocked, it is a cumbersome task for a beneficiary to retrieve it.

The BISP’s heavy budget, surpassing the mark of Rs1bn, has been exceptionally slow in establishing its offices in some areas. In Balochistan, there are no district level set-ups for resolving basic issues regarding the Benazir debit card and eligibility verification process.

In many remote areas, where there are no banks, the needy beneficiaries have to rely only on Omni franchises, which demand high (illegal) charges.

S. Asim Agha

Pishin

Published in Dawn January 28th, 2015

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