KHAR: Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Marvi Memon on Sunday said the federal government was keen to improve living standard of the Fata women by reducing their financial problems.

She was addressing a meeting of the women, who have been benefiting from the programme, here. Officials of local administration and BISP’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa director general Irfan Aman Yousafzai were also in attendance.

Ms Memon said several women vocational training centres would be established in every tribal agency. She said the federal government would launch an interest-free loan scheme for the tribal women so to enable them to start small businesses. Mr Memon said the BISP would conduct a new survey to benefit more needy and deserving women. The new survey, she added was likely to start in 2017. The women of remote and backward areas would be given priority in the survey, she maintained.

On the occasion, the women urged the BISP chief to increase the programme’s payment points in the agency for their convenience. To which Ms Memon agreed and announced to establish two more payment points in the agency.

The women thanked Ms Memon for visiting them and hoped the initiatives announced by her would be materialised.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2016