BISP, World Bank agree to collaborate for serving the flood affected population through social protection systems: Shazia Marri

ISLAMABAD, Oct 06 (SABAH):  Ms. Shazia Atta Marri, Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) discussed the efforts made by Government of Pakistan for the population affected by the flood. RS. 63 billion have so far been disbursed amongst 2.5 million families affected by the flood.

Shazia Marri further added that Rs.1 billion has been allocated by BISP for providing specialized nutritious food amongst 9, 00,000 pregnant and lactating women and children under 2 years residing in flood affected population. She emphasized on the increased need of resources to serve the flood affected population.

Country Director World Bank has appreciated Government of Pakistan’s efforts particularity BISP’s role in serving the vulnerable population facing hard times. He assured World Bank’s commitment for arranging more resources for the flood affected population. He also exchanged the idea of appropriating of some funds for the provision of specialized nutritious food to meet the further need of the flood affected areas.

Chairperson BISP emphasized that they have zero percent tolerance against any leakage or deduction from the money allocated for the most needy and poorest of the segments of the society and vowed anyone found involved in pilferage shall be sent behind bars. She also highlighted that secrecy of the data is the top most priority at the BISP and every possible measures are being undertaken to ensure safety of the personal details of the persons registered with the programme.

The World Bank delegation was also apprised of inclusion of new mechanism in the payment system and the additional layers of security as well as BISP commitment of introducing new interventions to provide relief to the people without any leakages.

Najy Benhassine, World Bank’s Country Director for Pakistan, South Asia Region appreciated the outreach and quantum of support extended by the programme and assured the Bank’s maximum possible support for the flood victims in Pakistan. He noted that devastations of the floods in Pakistan are colossal and said that it is a shared responsibility of the international community to help Pakistan to cope up with the challenging situation. He further assured of institutional support for Pakistan upcoming donor’s conference so that maximum assistance can be extend to the flood victims. He also offered WB’s technical support to BISP in data collection.