The scheme provides stipends to several trainees. PHOTO: PID
As the Nawaz administration shifts the government’s fiscal priorities, some programmes started by the Zardari administration appear to be falling by the wayside, with devastating financial consequences for those involved. Nearly 25,000 trainees associated with the Waseela-i-Rozgar scheme appear to be in that category, after the government refuses to pay the Rs760 million it owes to over 50 service providers for the past two years.
The Waseela-e-Rozgar Free Vocational and Technical Training scheme is part of the Benazir Income Support Programme, started by the PPP-led government in memory of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The scheme provides stipends to several trainees to learn vocational skills so that they can attain gainful employment for themselves. It utilises the services of private sector trainers to impart those skills to the trainees.
But since the Nawaz administration has taken office, the Rs6,000 per month stipends to the nearly 25,000 trainees have stopped, as have any payments to the service providers. In total, the government owes the trainees and service providers Rs760 million that they have yet to pay.
Many of these service providers come from working class backgrounds and in order to create their training services, many had undertaken enormous personal debt, which they hoped would be reimbursed by the government. Some are now threatening self-immolation in front of the Supreme Court in protest.
“We are left with no other option but to commit suicide. We cannot see our children dying of hunger or thrown out of schools on not paying school fees,” said Sarfaraz Malik, a service provider from Multan who claims he is owed Rs3 million by the government. “For the last two years, we have been struggling to get our dues, but no one is listening to our woes. We never had this issue in the previous government, but when the PML-N took over, we stopped getting our dues.”
When the service providers tried to reach officials responsible for the programme, they were given the cold shoulder. “Senior officials have stopped taking our calls, and have blocked our cellphone numbers. They refuse to meet us and have asked the gatekeepers of their buildings to not let us inside their offices,” said Malik.
Among the officials approached are Marvi Memon, a member of the National Assembly from the ruling PML-N, who serves as the BISP chairperson. In addition, they have approached Sania Nishtar, a BISP board member, and BISP Secretary Shabbir Ahmed. The service providers also approached Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while he was in Peshawar, and he directed government officials to respond to their pleas, but the officials have yet to take action. The service providers have now filed petitions in the Islamabad High Court and the Balochistan High Court.
Hafiz Qadir Awan, a service provider from Ghotki and Mir Khan Khetran from Barkhan district said: “We have borrowed money from our relatives and friends and now they are after us, asking us to pay them back. We have to hide ourselves when they around.” They also claimed that one of their former colleagues died of cardiac arrest due to the mounting tension of not being able to pay back his debts.
When contacted by The Express Tribune, Sania Nishtar said: “It is really unfortunate that these people are struggling and I truly realise their suffering. I am making all out efforts to get them justice but it will take time to release their payments through proper channels.”
BISP Secretary Shabbir Ahmed said they were well aware of the service providers’ suffering. However he said that the payments are in process and the decision will be taken in a board meeting. He said there were some reports that there were some ghost organisations or schools where the training was supposedly being held. “I guess the National Accountability Bureau has also started investigating about these ghost institutions,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2015.
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