The Ministry of Postal Services, which has been assigned to distribute funds among the deserving poor families under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), is facing various problems in the disbursement of funds. “Bureaucratic problems, time factor for transmission of money orders and delivery to the doorsteps are major challenges being faced by us,” said Karachi Postmaster General Ali Ahsan Faruqi on Sunday. Faruqi said that they deal with the distribution of 100,000 money orders per month for distribution on an average, and sometimes the money orders exceed the number to 1.5 million with cash distribution of Rs 1,000 per family.
It is pertinent to mention here that the stipend would be raised from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per month under the BISP from the new fiscal year. Faruqi said that the service charges per money order under the BISP is Rs 5 only compared to small cards under mobile banking that charge Rs 100 to Rs 150 per transaction on delivery to customers at their franchise offices. He said that the Pakistan Postal offices (PPOs) located not only in urban but rural areas face immense pressure from the locals for timely delivery of money order. “Community leaders who mainly claim to be the representatives of the BISP claimants are major source of bottlenecks for us. Had they been sincere, we could fulfil our duties smoothly,” the senior postmaster general said.
Referring to his recent visit to various PPOs in Karachi and the remote parts of rural Sindh, he admitted discovering some cases where the lower staffs of the PPOs were observed indulging in malpractices in collaboration with the locals who represent the illiterate deserving families. “We are performing our jobs with minimum charges compared to the high costs incurred on mobile banking services, which practically are not secure as there remain chances of manipulation in this computerised world of today,” Faruqi said. He said that despite meagre resources, the PPOs have replaced the postmen’s mobility from bicycles to motorcycles for expediting parcel deliveries and payment of money orders to the doorsteps of the registered people.
“We shall soon set up a hotline for the people to register their complaints for prompt action against any irregularity, be it against PPOs or local influential men,” he maintained. The BISP was launched in 2008 by the Pakistan People’s Party leadership for the deserving poor families with elaborate programmes, including health and insurance cover, besides vocational training to village women, as an attempt to adopt a path of self-reliance.
