ISLAMABAD
Rs 9 billion have been withdrawn by 2.28 million beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) through Benazir Debit Card (BDC). The total amount of Rs 15.93 billion was released to approximately 4.31 million beneficiaries by BISP for the third quarter January to March 2013 out of which approximately 3.7 million beneficiaries were to receive payment through BDC.
In addition to the quarterly payment, BISP released Rs 328 million for approximately 51 thousand beneficiaries of Thar as a special compensation amounting to additional Rs 6400 per beneficiary. So far, more than 49 thousand Thar beneficiaries have withdrawn the grants from their respective accounts.
The Benazir Income Support Programme is working towards the establishment of an effective Social Safety Net in the country for the poorest of the poor households. In order to ensure transparency and efficiency in its operations, BISP has adopted scientific targeting as well as payment mechanisms. This enables BISP to reconcile the data with banks on real-time basis which helps in quick resolution to the problems as well, with an added objective of financial inclusion of beneficiaries of BISP. The programme aims at shifting all the beneficiaries from traditional to scientific payment mechanisms in the future.