LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claims to have arrested three people in Okara on complaints about unauthorised activation of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) cards and withdrawal of cash from the accounts of poor women.

The suspects have been sent on physical remand to further interrogate them, says a handout.

A joint team of the FIA and the BISP raided some locations in Okara and arrested three men who were depriving the poor beneficiaries of money.

The BISP, says the handout, is committed to establishing robust systems in order to curtail the middle-man culture and help women beneficiaries access their cash in a transparent manner. Its Regional Directorate General in Punjab advised women beneficiaries to submit information and complaints of fraudulent activities to the divisional directors whose contact details can be accessed from www.bisp.gov.pk.

Women beneficiaries can also approach the BISP regional and tehsil offices and they may also register their complaints with the headquarters in Islamabad.

“The BISP is continuously making efforts to identify and take strict action against culprits exploiting poor beneficiaries and will be working in collaboration with law-enforcement agencies for taking punitive action against them. It has adopted transparent and easy-to-use systems to eliminate the chances of exploitation and recently introduced activation through biometric verification.”

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015