QUETTA: Chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme Marvi Memon has said that a countrywide survey will be conducted this year to register more deserving women so that they may benefit from the programme.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of ‘Beneficiaries Outreach and Communication Strategy of BISP’ here on Saturday evening, she said it was the desire of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to bring more and more needy women of Balochistan into the social safety net programme.

Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri and Balochistan Assembly Speaker Raheela Hameed Khan Durrani attended the ceremony.

Ms Memon also held a meeting with members of the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Balochistan Chamber of Small Industries and Traders and other officials.

She said the government wanted to eliminate poverty by registering more women with the BISP. The survey, she added, would be started this year and completed by 2018. The women, who could not get benefit from the BISP, would become its beneficiaries soon.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar have been paying special attention to the development of Balochistan. Therefore, huge funds have been allocated to eliminate poverty and backwardness in the province besides putting it on the track of development, progress and prosperity,” the BISP chairperson said.

She urged women of Balochistan to borrow from the Prime Minister’s Loan Scheme in order to financially empower themselves.

Mr Zehri praised Ms Memon for her efforts aimed at eliminating poverty and empowering women.

Earlier, speaking at the Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industries and Balochistan Chamber of Small Industries and Traders, the BISP chairperson said that of the 5.2 million beneficiaries of the BISP countrywide around 200,000 came from Balochistan.

“The business community and BISP will have to put in joint efforts to eliminate poverty from the province,” she said.

Ms Memon said that the BISP would introduce self-registration of women. The pilot phase 2016 would cover Qila Saifullah, Kech, Turbat and Nasirabad districts, she added.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2016