FATA poverty survey in April

The poverty survey in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) for Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) will start in April. This was said by BISP Chairperson Farzana Raja on Saturday.
Briefing parliamentarians from Fata at the Governor House in Peshawar on the survey, she said that deserving families in Fata will be registered with BISP as beneficiaries and will become entitled to receiving a monthly cash grant as well as other benefits offered by the program. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Masood Kausar, Senators, national assembly members from Fata and notables including Fata Law and Order Secretary were also present.
Raja said that women belonging to Fata would need to get their National Identity Cards to be eligible for BISP.
She urged the parliamentarians to help BISP conduct the survey in their constituencies. Fata parliamentarians said that the process will be facilitated by village committees comprising local elders and religious leaders.
Governor Kausar and Raja later distributed cheques among 107 women, under the Waseela-e-Haq scheme of BISP. The scheme gives people small loans without collateral.
Munir Orakzai, Parliamentary leader for Fata in National Assembly, K-P Assembly Speaker Kiramatullah Khan Chagharmati, Senior Provincial Minister Raheem Dad Khan, federal and provincial ministers and members of the national and provincial assemblies attended the meeting.
Published in The Express Tribune