As many as 50,000 more families from Dera Ismail Khan have been registered with the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) during the last year. According to a press release issued here, the number of beneficiary families in Dera Ismail Khan has increased from 135,000 to 185,000 due to the special efforts of the Minister of State for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Faisal Karim Kundi.
Meanwhile, the number of beneficiary students under the Waseela-e-Taleem program, with an increase of 37,000, has reached to around 150,000 in the district. Minister of State for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Faisal Karim Kundi, while talking to different public delegations, said that most of the BISP cards of deserving women have been restored which were blocked in past. The stipend of BISP beneficiaries has been increased from 8,000 to 9,000.
The BISP beneficiary women were not only getting financial assistance but the facilities were being provided to them under the Nashonuma program in case of pregnancy and the Waseela-e-Taleem program for their children’s education. Under the Waseela-e-Taleem Program, the children of each deserving family were given a stipend of Rs 3,500 which has also been increased to Rs 4,000.
Similarly, under the Nashonuma program, the additional assistance of Rs 2,000 and a special food package as per international health standards is given to each deserving woman during pregnancy and two years after the birth of the child. The centres of the Nashonuma program have been established at the Tehsil level where the facilities of registration, Health facility, stipend payment, and delivery of food packages were being provided under one roof. Moreover, he said that each cardholder received Rs 25,000 in financial assistance after last year’s floods.
