Khuhro calls for widening BISP scope in Sindh to fight poverty

Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh President Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Monday emphasised the need to expand the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to include more families in need, as nearly 50 per cent of the province’s population lives below the poverty line.

Khuhro, who also serves as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the provincial assembly, made this statement during a briefing from BISP officials regarding the current status of the state-run poverty alleviation programme in the province.

The briefing was conducted by Zulfiqar Sheikh, the provincial director general of the BISP, along with other programme officials, in the committee room of the PA. During the briefing, Khuhro learned that approximately 9.5 million households have been surveyed in Sindh, with 2.4 million deserving families enrolled as BISP beneficiaries, and each beneficiary family receives Rs10,500 every three months.

The PAC chairman noted that the quarterly financial assistance is crucial for the economic survival of underprivileged families, especially when eligible youth from these households are unable to secure government jobs due to court-imposed stay orders or temporary bans on fresh employment in view of impending elections.

He said households with a monthly income of less than Rs29,000 are eligible to enrol as BISP beneficiaries. He directed the officials concerned to increase the number of BISP centres in the province to alleviate overcrowding at the existing facilities.

He also mentioned a recent agreement between the BISP and the Sindh Technical Education & Vocational Training Authority to provide vocational training to 36 per cent of the BISP beneficiary women, and 6,000 male and female students, with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank.

Under the Benazir Nashonuma Programme, a total of 748,000 women and newborns have been registered. Currently, 138 BISP offices are operational at the Tehsil level, and the BISP also plans to establish one-window service centres.

Khuhro announced that needy families from Sindh who had been removed from the BISP database during the previous government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would be reinstated as beneficiaries after a survey in order to enhance the poverty alleviation efforts in the province.

Previously, the federal government had allocated Rs70 billion to provide Rs25,000 per family to approximately 2.8 million flood-affected individuals in Sindh following the devastating floods of 2022. Additionally, over Rs8 billion had been spent to provide subsidised wheat seeds to 216,000 small growers and farmers to support agricultural recovery after the floods.