LAYYAH, Oct 20: Local Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) workers have shown resentment against the method adopted to distribute Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) forms calling it “flawed” one and demanding its immediate review.

As forms are being distributed by MNAs, PPP workers bemoaned that they were being ignored in the constituencies from where members of political parties other than the PPP returned to the National Assembly in the Feb 18 general elections. They also demanded that a quota for PPP workers should be reserved in the scheme named after their “beloved leader”.

Around 8,000 BISP forms have been provided by the federal government to MNA Hafiz Saqlain Bukhari of the PML-N for distribution.

During a survey conducted by Dawn, it was learnt that forms were being distributed by office-bearers and workers of the PML-N throughout the NA-182 constituency.

Talking to Dawn on Sunday, PPP district president Abdul Majeed Bhutta, senior vice-president Dr Javed Iqbal and general-secretary Gulzar Hussain Shah said that they were receiving complaints of “party-based” discrimination from all units of the PPP in NA-182 as MNA Bukhari was giving preference to workers of his party instead of Benazir’s.

They said that the programme was primarily designed to provide financial support to the poorest of the poor of society but MNA’s “agents” were obliging their near and dear ones, violating the criterion fixed by the government to execute the programme.

They opined that Bukhari’s influencing such a large number of families in this area would add to the political woes of the PPP in the forthcoming general elections, especially in the city areas, as it had already lost both National Assembly seats from the district in the 2008 general elections.

They urged President Asif Ali Zardari to revise the distribution method and allocate a quota for the party workers instead.

Iftikhar Ali Babar, who is a PPP MPA from PP-266, also complained that the distribution of forms was defective and he was unable to oblige his electorate.

He said though he had been given due share in the distribution of Punjab Food Stamps Scheme forms, he wanted his say in distribution of BISP forms because the scheme originally meant to target genuinely poor “awam”, which, he considered, were his voters and supporters.

The residence of MNA Bukhari and PML-N local offices in Layyah city, Chowk Azam, Dhori Adda, Jaman Shah, Kot Sultan, Pahar Pur, Peer Jagi and Ludhana localities are the main distribution centres of BISP forms where hundreds of hopefuls can be seen queued up to clinch a ‘rare piece of paper’ but many of them have to return empty-handed every day.

Allah Wasai, a 45-year-old widow and mother of three, works as a housemaid and earns Rs1,500 per month. She complained that she had been visiting MNA’s camp office in Employees Colony for the last two weeks but was not lucky enough to get any form of the income support programme.

Mouza Sadu Thal, Chak No 148-C of Chah Shahanay Wala is Layyah’s suburban locality whose population of 60 people lives in around 20 makeshift huts but half of the population is blind by birth.

Residents of the huts colony established near Pul Hazari on Lohanch Nashaib Road around 25 years ago are yet to get any BISP form.

Talking to Dawn, Shakeel, Parveen and Muredan, who are blind by birth, said that they were making their both ends meet by begging. They said that they visited their councillor’s house to get the forms, but to no avail.

Talking to Dawn, former MNA and PML-Q leader Malik Niaz Ahmed Jhakhar said that workers of both the major parties were obliging their near and dear ones, completely ignoring thousands of deserving poor like the dwellers of Chah Shahanay Wala’s Chak No 148-C.