Suspension orders: BISP funds halted in Malakand

Programme has left many, including widows, anxious over closure of funds.

SWAT:

Financial support to the receivers of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has been suspended in the Malakand Division until further notice.

The directives were given by the post office’s provincial director general on Friday.

The suspension of the programme, which planned to provide cash assistance to 5.5 million families in 2012-2013, has left many, including widows anxious.

Zarina Bibi, a 55-year-old widow, said: “I undergo regular treatment and would buy medicines with the help of BISP funds.”  She added that although Rs1,000 is not enough, the money was helping her to some extent. “If it is stopped permanently, I will be left with no other option than to beg for money for my treatment,” she said, appealing to the government to not stop the assistance.

All beneficiaries of the scheme get Rs1,000 per month, which they say is not sufficient. They have requested the government double the amount. Nonetheless, it’s an important source of income for many people.

“The distribution of money is not on a regular basis, we get it after two or three months, but it is a collective amount, which helps,” said another regular receiver of BISP, Maryam, hailing from Malookabad area.



Chamni Gul, the deputy senior post master in the GPO at Saidu Sharif, told The Express Tribune that they have instructions from their department in Peshawar to halt the process of BISP payments until further notice.

The personal secretary of the BISP Divisional Directorate Motabar Khan confirmed the news, adding that the funds were stopped because there were issues with supporting regular beneficiaries and also giving aid to victims of bomb blasts and other terrorist activities. “Once the problem is resolved, funds will be released,” he said.

Earlier, many BISP users had complained of corruption on part of the post office’s clerical staff. They blamed staffers of taking commissions and bribes.

Hundreds of people from the suburbs of Manglawar union council had staged a protest in front of the district General Post Office in Saidu Sharif, alleging that some of the staff deceived them and did not give money in time.

Similarly, in tehsil Matta, hundreds of widows staged a protest recently against the post office staff, blaming them for high level irregularities in disbursement of funds.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2012.