ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has released Rs21.3 billion for 4.7 million families benefiting from the scheme for the second quarter of the current financial year.

Payment for over 22,000 children at the rate of Rs200 per month each has also been released for Waseela-i-Taleem initiative of the programme.

BISP Secretary Shabbir Ahmed said that every effort had been made to ensure transparency and efficiency in the disbursement process.

“Transparency is the top priority of the administration and for this purpose the BISP is taking necessary steps, including a payment verification interface which aims to eliminate unnecessary delay in payment to beneficiaries and ensures a real-time monitoring by all stakeholders of the programme,” the secretary said while briefing journalists on Monday.

The BISP has expedited its activities in the field, with over 70,000 beneficiaries getting fresh debit cards for receiving the quarterly cash payment.

He said the Waseela-i-Taleem initiative would be further extended to 32 districts in the country. He said the initiative was looking to enrol 1.5m children in primary schools in the next two years.

The BISP secretary said that the programme was looking for improving the quality of data of 27m households, collected through a poverty survey.

He said the necessity of revisiting the National Socio-Economic Registry was being assessed and best international practices would be kept in mind while taking any decision in this regard.

Published in Dawn December 16th , 2014