BISP Gives Four Percent Financial Assistance To Non-Muslim In Country

Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has given around 4 percent financial assistance to non-Muslims, in accordance to their share of non-Muslim population in the country

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Jan, 2019 ) :Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has given around 4 percent financial assistance to non-Muslims, in accordance to their share of non-Muslim population in the country. "All the citizens are treated equally while taking decisions for the betterment of the people and the government does not discriminate in its efforts for poverty alleviation based on faith and religion", an official in BISP told APP here Wednesday.

He said that BISP is serving poorest of the poor without any discrimination based on locality, creed and religion based on Poverty Score Card (PSC). The official said the government is also preparing a detailed poverty reduction strategy and social protection policy to address the problems faced by the people living below poverty line across the country.

To a question, he said that as many as 5.7 million are beneficiaries of the BISP till date. However, the number of beneficiaries getting cash assistance under Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) programme at present is 5,036,401, he added. He said almost 98.5 percent beneficiaries of BISP are being paid through Benazir Debit Card (BDC) and Biometric Verification System (BVS) technology of based payment mechanism.

The official said, on behalf of the government, BISP being a social protection organization, has designed and implemented an effective social mobilization and communication policy for quarterly disbursement of Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT). He said announcements are being made by BISP's Regional and Field offices through mosque and holy places in coordination with respective local communities for mobilization and awareness of the beneficiaries. The BISP Regional and Field offices also coordinate with concerned authorities at local level for broadcasting of FM Radio messages and visited villages, union councils to deliver lectures to beneficiaries for their awareness regarding withdrawals of their full amounts and to avoid other illegal activities, he added.

He said communication material highlighting the quarterly amount and the procedure to withdraw the amounts by the beneficiaries are displayed at disbursement points and BISP offices.