BISP: Deserving deprived, undeserving benefited

Beneficiaries included 2,543 govt officials of grade 17 to 21

ISLAMABAD: The extent of highhandedness and malpractice in the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) can be assessed from the fact that among the 8 million beneficiaries of the welfare scheme which had solely been designed for the poor of the country included the top government officials and their families.

The startling revelations were made in a document available with The Express Tribune which stated that those expelled from the welfare programme included 2,543 people who were serving on high government positions – from grade 17 to 21.

Last year in December, the federal cabinet had given approval to the removal of 820,165 beneficiaries from the BISP database, describing them as “undeserving”.

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari described the move as “an attack on the economic empowerment of poor women in the country”.

The changes in the BISP database were made in the wake of apprehensions expressed by some cabinet members that the supporters of opposition parties, especially those backing the PPP, were benefiting from the programme, while those belonging to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf were being ignored.

Statistics say that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ranked first in the list of “underserving” candidates with 277,266 beneficiaries axed – Punjab second with 243,380 –Sindh third with 183,342 and Balochistan fourth with 42,280 recipients removed.

Out of total 820,165 beneficiaries removed from the BISP database, 14,730 were government employees or employees of railways, post office and BISP despite the fact that the facility was not meant for government servants.

Launched in July 2008, the BISP is the country’s largest single social safety net programme with around 5.4 million beneficiaries, according to the 2016 data.

According to details, several top government officials continued to receive the monthly stipend in the name of their wives.

Those who benefitted from the quarterly support payments include three grade-21 officers, 429 grade-19 officers and 59 grade-20 officers from across the country.

Over 340 officers of grade-18 had unjustifiably benefited from the welfare scheme in Sindh, while 6 officers working for BISP also benefited from the programme.

In addition, 1,240 grade-17 officers also profited from the scheme.

Similarly, a wide majority or 741 government officers in Balochistan also availed the facility.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar has written a letter to the provincial chief secretaries and secretaries of federal ministries seeking a strict disciplinary action against the culprits.

Expressing dismay over the matter, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry remarked that those who unduly benefitted from the programme should be “ashamed” of themselves.

“What should we call those who commit this sort of cruelty against the poor,” he asked.