BISP warns public to stay vigilant of fraudulent elements

Islamabad

Minister of State and Chairperson Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) MNA Marvi Memon  warned general public to stay vigilant of fraudulent elements, trying to sell fake BISP survey forms in return of money.

While talking to BISP beneficiaries on telephone calls, she said that BISP has not started its resurvey yet and no survey forms are being distributed by the organization.

Chairperson BISP reiterated that in the pilot phase, resurvey would be initiated by middle of this year in fifteen districts and a tribal agency namely Mirpur (AJK), Charsadda, Lakki Marwat, Haripur (KPK), Chakwal, Layyah, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur (Punjab), Jacobabad, Sukkar, Thatta (Sindh), Gilgit (Gilgit Baltistan), Qila Saifullah,, Kech, Nasirabad (Balochistan) and Mohammad Agency (FATA). “After completion of the pilot phase, national roll out of resurvey will be started,” she said.

Callers from all over the country apprised Chairperson BISP of their problems. Chairperson BISP issued instructions to the concerned officials for quick redressal of their grievances.

Marvi stressed that resurvey form would be free of cost once resurvey gets initiated. “If anyone asks for money in return for resurvey form it should be reported immediately to the nearest Police station,” she said.  The BISP Case Management team head was also present to guide the callers on their problems. The complaints can also be made at BISP hotline 0800-26477.

As a result of previous Nationwide Poverty Scorecard Survey in 2010-11, BISP is the only National Socio-economic Registry (NSER) of the country. It has data of almost 27 million households across Pakistan. It enabled BISP to identify eligible households through the application of a Proxy Means Test (PMT) that determines welfare status of the household on a scale between 0-100. According to this NSER, 7.7 million deserving families were identified living below cut-off score of 16.17. Out of 7.7 million, BISP is providing financial assistance to 5.2 million at this point of time.

As per international standard, the age of demographic data is approximately 5 years, after which it needs to be updated. Following the best international practices, BISP is preparing to conduct resurvey so that the NSER could be updated.