Women waiting on government for aid

JOHARABAD: The Pakistan government has failed to provide 370 women from the Khushab district with aid through the Benazir Income Support Programme. According to details, 1,541 women are currently registered to be receiving a Rs1,000 monthly stipend each.

However, 370 women say that they did not receive their October and November stipends. They say that they have been visiting post offices to claim the money for the past few weeks. Post office officials confirmed that they had seen hundreds of women complaining that they had not received their payment for several months. “Apart from the 370 women who have yet to receive their instalments for October and November, 2010 the government has been unable to make the December and January payments for many others,” a post office worker said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The payments to the BISP beneficiaries are made through the Pakistan Post. A list of beneficiaries residing in particular areas is sent to the respective Post Office in an electronic form along with a cheque for the total amount to be paid to the beneficiaries. In order to collect the digitised pay order that the Post Office prints, the beneficiary has to show her computerised ID card.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2011.