The federal government has no strategy to extend assistance to the people of Tharparkar other than through Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). Shortly after the national media broke stories about the death of children in Tharparkar due to drought, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the district and promised Rs 100 million aid package for the victims.
Federal Ministry of Finance released Rs 500 million to BISP for distribution among people of Tharparkar following directions from the Prime Minister which envisages Rs 6,400 per beneficiary. The official data available with Business Recorder shows that there are 51,000 BISP beneficiaries in Tharparkar out of a total population of 1.5 million, one of the poorest areas in Pakistan, where more than 200 children died in recent months owing to the drought. “We have distributed 328 million rupees out of 500 million rupees among the 51,000 BISP beneficiaries so far,” an official stated adding that BISP is authorised to distribute the grant only among its beneficiaries.
He said that BISP is likely to receive the balance of Rs 500 million under the Prime Minister’s financial package for people of Thar next month. “So far, there is no plan to extend financial aid to people other than those already registered BISP beneficiaries,” he said. The BISP has also released its quarterly funds amounting to Rs 510 million, in addition to the Prime Minister’s financial package, for its 51,000 beneficiaries in Tharparkar. Each beneficiary has received an additional Rs 10, 000 but this is the routine transfer of funds that BISP is mandated to give them.
The official said that the Thar beneficiaries have withdrawn around Rs 430 million so far through their ATM cards while the remaining beneficiaries would also be able to withdraw the amount any time. Two days ago, a Director Generals’ conference was held under the chair of BISP Senator Enver Baig (Retd) in which the officials from Sindh urged that the survey to include more beneficiaries from Thar be expedited.
The official said BISP has already stepped up its outreach and mobilisation campaigns to reduce the gap between enrolled and paid beneficiaries in the coming months. The BISP has identified 7.2 million eligible poor families, 23 percent of the total population, on the basis of a nationwide poverty scorecard survey using a proxy means test approach.
Out of it, 2.4 million eligible poor families are not yet receiving the cash transfer because the female head does not hold a Computerised National Identity Card, which is the key eligibility criterion. The second International Monetary Fund staff review of the 6.64 billion dollar Extended Fund Facility notes that the “authorities have also instituted a mechanism to release funds to the Benazir Income Support Programme by the middle of the quarter, which seeks to ensure that funds reach the beneficiaries without delays.” The review also says that the funds amounting to Rs 18.75 billion for the current quarter have already been released and BISP has already begun processing the payments. They will also reinforce the BISP management and step up outreach to improve actual deliveries to beneficiaries.
source: http://www.brecorder.com / Business Recorder / Home> General News> Pakistan / by Aamir Saeed / April 04th, 2014