HYDERABAD    -   World Food Programme’s (WFP) Special Advisor on Mother and Child Nutrition and Jordanian Princess Sarah Zeid on Monday visited the Benazir Nashonuma Centre here on Monday.

Federal Minister for Pover­ty Alleviation and Social Safe­ty and Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Shazia Atta Marri, Dr Khalida Mandhro and Sindh Minister Muhammad Ismail Raho warmly welcomed the visiting dignitary upon her arrival at the centre in Old Civil Hospital.

Princess Sarah Zeid visited different sections of the cen­tre and interacted with the mothers and children.

The doctors, lady health workers and other staff members gave a detailed briefing to the princess, and other representatives of the WFP. Talking to media, Prin­cess Sarah appreciated the efforts of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for addressing stunting in children and providing assis­tance to mothers in getting nutritious food for them­selves and their children.

She lauded the perfor­mance of the staff, especially the lady health workers, say­ing that the programme was working well to ensure the supply of food to the mother and child.

She said the WFP was working with BISP to provide nutritional support to the mothers and their infants so that they could flourish with required food supplements.

Minister Shazia Marri thanked WFP and other aid agencies for helping BISP. She said the federal govern­ment had decided to disburse an amount of Rs37.5 billion among the rain affected fami­lies to compensate the dam­ages caused due to rain in the country, adding that Rs25 thousands will be distributed among each affected family.

Minister Shazia Marri thanked WFP and other aid agencies for helping BISP. She said the federal govern­ment had decided to dis­burse an amount of Rs37.5 billion among the rain af­fected families to compen­sate the damages caused due to rain in the country, adding that Rs25 thousands will be distributed among each af­fected family.

Benazir Nashonuma cen­tres were set up in all four provinces, and in Sindh, one centre each in Badin and Dadu districts was function­ing with the assistance of WFP, Shazia Marri said.

She announced that such centres would be established in other districts to extend nutritional support to maxi­mum number of mothers and newborn babies.

Marri said Prime Minis­ter (PM) Shehbaz Sharif was committed to provide all pos­sible assistance to the rain victims across the country, including Sindh and Balo­chistan, and in this regard, the amount of compensation would be increased further.

In response to a question, she said that complaints had been received about the alleged deductions in the BISP’s amounts received by the beneficiaries and vowed to take strict action against the responsible persons. She urged the media to play a role in identifying the persons in­volved in this dirty practice.

Sindh Minister Ismail Raho, Special Assistants to CM Sayed Riaz Hussain Shah, Pir Noorullah Qureshi, MPA Taj Muhammad Mallah, and Senator Dr Khalida Sikandar Mandhro were present on the occasion.

Later, Princess Sarah Zeid visited the BISP centre in Golarchi and interacted with the beneficiaries of the pro­gramme.