MIRPUR (AJK)
The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) chairperson said that a survey had been conducted five years ago and now another country-wide survey would be conducted to assess the exact number of deserving families.
Addressing a gathering of BISP cardholders in Kotli Azad Jammu Kashmir, BISP Chairperson Marvi Memon said that the federal government wanted to stablise the national economy to make the country prosperous.
She invited the women who were left out in the last survey to get their names registered in the fresh survey which would be completed in two years. She said that a total of one million children have been registered under the BISP and their educational expenses were being paid to the cardholders to enable their children to get education.
She said that that BISP had been recognised by international institutions as an effective programme. She added that the incumbent government had raised the amount paid to beneficiaries from Rs1,000 to Rs1,500.
She said that BISP would not only eradicate poverty but help deserving females to become financially made independent. She urged the card-holder women to focus on the education of their children for which the government had been providing them with funds. She also urged the women to get benefit from the interest-free loans and set up cottage industries. She said that almost half a million deserving women were benefiting from the BISP. The government would try its best to increase the amount paid to them in the next financial year, she added.
Saima Farooq Sikandar, regional director of BISP Azad Kashmir, Raja Ikhlas, Parsa Rathor and others also addressed the Beneficiaries Outreach and Communication Strategy ceremony. It was attended by the lawmakers, officer-bearers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and workers in huge number.