Delay in payments: Service providers give final ultimatum to BISP management

Warns of a protest in front of parliament if pending funds are not released by January 1, 2014.

ISLAMABAD:

Some of the pro-people initiatives, taken by the previous government have not only remained untouched but were also endorsed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government. One such initiative was Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) which addressed the urgent need for direct and speedy relief to the underprivileged sections of the society.

But after taking over of the BISP by new management, payments to the service providers as well as to the trainees have been stopped for the last nine months.

Over 40 service providers of Waseela-i-Rozgar Free Vocational and Technical Training scheme, run under BISP, from all across Pakistan gathered in Islamabad on Friday to know about reasons behind the delay in payments to them as well as the stipend to 55,000 trainees.

The delay has resulted in a complete halt of the scheme that aims to provide free vocational trainings to over 150,000 beneficiaries across the country.



Talking to The Express Tribune, the service providers said they have not received a single penny from the BISP since April this year. Moreover, they informed that trainees belonging to the underprivileged segments of the society associated with the scheme have also not received their monthly stipend --- Rs6,000 per month while the new management at BISP has also stopped sharing data regarding the enrolment of new trainees with them.

“For eight months, we have been trying to meet the BISP high-ups to discuss our issues but they refused to meet us each time. We have now given them an ultimatum and have told them that if our pending funds are not released by by January 1, 2014, we’ll protest for our rights in front of the parliament,” said one of the service providers.

Another service provider from KP Abdul Sattar claimed that the international donors have already given cash grants to the BISP to pay the pending claims and stipends after assessing the performance of their training programme when they visited the vocational centres, “But till date, no one knows where the money has gone,” he said.

“I have spent Rs3 million so far but the authorities have failed to pay me back,” said Mohammad Sarfaraz, a service provider from Multan who informed that, according to their two-year contract with BISP, all the service providers were to receive from Rs3500 to 5500 every month for instructing each trainee. “Besides this, examination fee and a tool kit for the beneficiaries at the end of training course were also to be provided for. It seems like the new management is not interested in continuing a programme started by the PPPP government.”

When contacted, Director Waseela-i-Rozgar scheme Moonis Ali said the delays were because of certain funding issues faced by BISP and that the payments and stipends will be released to the trainees and service providers soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2013.