Officials asked to ensure transparency at BISP disbursement campsites

JHANG: The Cash Transactions Director General and the Punjab Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) DG have directed the local officials to ensure transparency by enhancing their monitoring of payment agents at disbursement campsites.

They also warned the BISP district and divisional teams to promptly address the grievances of beneficiary women and ensure full disbursement of installment amounts in a hassle-free manner. Top-level officers from the BISP management after taking notice of complaints from beneficiary women that they were facing hardships arrived in the district on Wednesday and inspected various disbursement campsites.

Both DGs observed large gatherings at the campsites and interacted with the beneficiary women who reported undue interference by individuals linked to influential payment agents. It was also pointed out that this year, local BISP officials had failed to effectively coordinate with top-level district administration regarding campsite arrangements and allegedly approved payment agents without reviewing their performance track records.

Meanwhile, Shamim Akhtar, a housemaid, along with Farzana and others told reporters that they had been visiting the city campsite daily, but payment tokens had already been issued selectively. They were asked to wait until closing time each day, only to return empty-handed they added.

Talking to media, the BISP District Deputy Director claimed that proper arrangements had been made for the disbursement of payments to 208,709 beneficiary women while 95,569 women had received their payments so far at 12 campsites across the district.

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