MIRPUR (AJK)
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Marvi Memom vowed to wage a war against middlemen, exploiters and manipulators of the system and to protect the self-respect of the beneficiaries.
She was addressing a group of BISP beneficiaries and journalists in Mirpur district of AJK region on Saturday. “BISP is the largest social safety net programme in the history of Pakistan. At present, more than 4.8 million women head of the families receive quarterly cash grant, which has been increase by 50% in the last two years by the current government. In addition to this, BISP also launched Waseela-e-Taleem programme (WeT) and Mirpur district was included in the pilot phase. As a result, BISP has been able to register 5,000 primary school children of the district in WeT and the beneficiaries are paid an additional amount of Rs200 per child per month on the condition of observing a minimum requirement for attendance,” she said.
Talking about her new responsibilities, she stated that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had given her the job to implement his vision of upholding self-respect and dignity of beneficiaries of BISP by giving them confidence. She added that the prime minister was aware of the difficulties of women and he desired to fulfill the promise of providing a purposeful life to them, which is their right. She said that she had been instructed by the prime minister to uphold his values and vision by understanding and resolving the problems faced by our beneficiaries.
Addressing the officials of BISP, she said that their job is not like any other ordinary job, rather, it is similar to a humanitarian cause, which needs to be kept in mind at all times for making an efficient and better delivery of services to the poor. She appreciated the contribution of WeT in Mirpur district and acclaimed the staff of Mirpur as well for their efforts.
Meanwhile, she listened to their problems and directed the officials to resolve them with utmost vigilance and honesty. She observed that the main hurdle for the fulfillment of vision of Prime Minister are middlemen and other people involved in fraudulent activities, trying to manipulate the system and exploit the poor beneficiary because of lack of education. She reiterated her stance against such elements and said that for achieving PM’s vision of women empowerment, these people will be defeated at all costs.
She also talked about the planned exercise to come up with a 100-day plan for the betterment of BISP. The plan will be chalked out on 8th March, aligning it with the International Women’s Day.
Chairperson BISP said that the alignment with IWD is to give a message to all people of Pakistan in general and the beneficiaries in particular, that the programme will make every effort to facilitate the poor women and their families.
During the visit, AJK Deputy Speaker Shaheen Dar also called on her to talk about various issues and problems faced by poor people in the region. She also ensured the Minister of State for maximum support of her administration to reach out to the target population of BISP.
The BISP chairperson was also invited to Ghazi Illahi Bakhsh College for Women as chief guest to a prize distribution ceremony of sports events held in the college. She was welcomed by the administration as well as students at the college and she inaugurated the spring plantation drive as well.
In her address to the participants, she said ‘dreams are for real’ and advised the girls that there are no shortcuts to success and that they have to work hard in order to fulfill their dreams. She said that women should be proud of their identities as they have contributed to every aspect in the development of their country.