ISLAMABAD, Oct 06 (APP): Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation & Social Safety and Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Shazia Marri Thursday said that an amount of Rs. 63 billion had so far been disbursed amongst 2.5 million flood affected families.
She said this while highlighting the efforts made by the government for the population affected by the flood during a meeting with the World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan, South Asia Region Najy Benhassine.
Shazia Marri said Rs.1 billion had been allocated by BISP for providing specialized nutritious food amongst 900,000 pregnant and lactating women and children under 2 years residing in flood affected population.
She emphasized on the increased need of resources to serve the flood affected population.
Chairperson BISP emphasized that they had zero tolerance against any leakage or deduction from the money allocated for the needy and poorest segments of the society and vowed anyone found involved in pilferage shall be sent behind bars.
She highlighted that secrecy of the data was the top priority at the BISP and every possible measures were being taken to ensure safety of the personal details of the persons registered with the programme.
The World Bank delegation was also apprised of inclusion of new mechanisms in the payment system and the additional layers of security as well as BISP commitment of introducing new interventions to provide relief to the people without any leakages.
Country Director World Bank appreciated Government of Pakistan’s efforts, particularity BISP’s role in serving the vulnerable population facing hard times and assured their commitment for arranging more resources and exchanged the idea of appropriating some funds for the provision of specialized nutritious food to meet the further need of the flood affected areas.
He also appreciated the outreach and quantum of support extended by the programme and assured the Bank’s maximum possible support for the flood victims in Pakistan.
He noted that devastation of the floods in Pakistan were colossal and said that it is a shared responsibility of the international community to help Pakistan to cope up with the challenging situation.
He further assured of institutional support for Pakistan’s upcoming donor’s conference so that maximum assistance could be extended to the flood victims.
