Sindh: Rs 18.5 million recovered from fake BISP recipients

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has recovered Rs18.5 million from 150 wives of government officials out of 224, benefiting from the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP).

According to the details, most of these women are the wives of 18th, 19th and above officers posted in various departments of the federal and provincial governments who had been receiving the aid taken from the BISP for many years.

FIA inspector Ramesh Kumar said that the FIA ​​had issued notices to 92 such women in Dadu and Jamshoro districts and summoned them to the Hyderabad office of the Federal Investigation Agency today (Monday).

He said that a total of 224 women belong to Hyderabad area and FIA has recovered Rs. 18.5 million from 150 women while the process of recovering money from others is underway.

According to Ramesh Kumar, 9 FIRs were registered against those who illegally benefited from the Benazir Income Support Program.

The FIA ​​had cleared both the districts of Matiari and Tando Allahyar after receiving BISP money from illegal beneficiaries.

He said that most of them were women, wives of officers who received aid money despite being officers of Sindh and federal governments.

The FIA ​​inspector said that 78 women belonged to Dadu and 14 to Jamshoro districts. Notices have been issued to these women to appear before the FIA ​​office in Hyderabad.

It should be noted that Benazir Income Support Program was introduced in July 2008, which is the largest social welfare program for women in Pakistan and according to the data of 2016, the number of beneficiaries was 5.4 million.

In January this year, Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) chairperson Dr Sania Nishtar had said that disciplinary action would be taken against Grade 17 and above officers who received stipends from the program launched for the poor.

The highest number of government officials receiving Benazir Income Support Program stipends is from Sindh. 1,122 Grade 17 or above officers were benefiting from BISP.

The second largest number of government officials is from Balochistan, where 741 officers had registered for the Poverty Alleviation Program.

Similarly, 403 officers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 137 officers from Punjab received Income Support Program stipends. 62 officers of the federal government, one officer of Pakistan Railways, 22 officers of Azad Kashmir and 49 officers of Gilgit-Baltistan who had declared themselves deserving and received Income Support Program stipends. Six officers of Benazir Income Support Program are also among the beneficiaries of the program.

Also Read: FIA books 58 female officers allegedly benefiting from BISP