World Bank help sought to identify poorest segments

A Senate panel was told on Monday the committee’s division sought assistance of the World Bank for poverty assessment in unreachable areas where the level of the poorest segments would be determined according to the statistics revealed by the bank’s system.

In a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety held under the chairmanship of Senator Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini, the chief executive officer of the division said it had access to many areas where the poverty level was high, but certain areas were inaccessible for which the division had sought the World Bank’s help.

“People residing in many areas of Balochistan are below the poverty line, while some districts of Sindh, including Thar, Badin and Thatta and some districts of KhyberPakhtunkhwa are also under extreme poverty,” said the division’s CEO, adding the body was working with 130 social welfare organizations in 144 locations across the country.

Briefing on the poverty in Karachi, Senator Rukhsana Zubair said people in Ibrahim Haideri and Orangi Town were living in extreme poverty and deserved special attention.

On which the committee was informed that the panel’s division was working on coastal areas of the metropolitan city.

Senator Lt General (retd) Abdul Qayyum said the poverty alleviation efforts should provide employment opportunities to the poor by equipping them with skills through training, in addition to alleviating the economic status of the poor.