PPP central leader Farzana Raja launched the Benazir Income Support Programme in Punjab to help the poor. Federal Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education Samina Khalid Gurki, Shakeela Rasheed (MNA), Sajida Mir (MPA), Town Nazim Khalid Gurki and office-bearers of the PPP were also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Benazir Income Support Programme Chairperson Farzana Raja said that it was a dream of Benazir Bhutto to empower women of the country and President Asif Ali Zardari must be given credit for giving her dream a practical shape by launching the programme.
She said applicants of the scheme could be men but only women would be allowed to receive the amount from postmen as they were responsible for families. She said 3.4million people would be beneficiaries of the programme and the government was spending an amount of 34 billion, which would be raised to 70billion till the next year. Farzana Raja said 128,000 money orders were ready and would soon reach the applicants, adding that the programme had started in October of the previous year so the people would receive the support for three months.
She said the data was totally computerised to ensure the transparency, adding that a lot of financial institutions were ready to invest in the programme because of its transparent system. She said that postman would be the first to touch the money, which would be handed over to applicant women after checking her identity cards. Farzana condemned the extremists, saying that Islam had empowered women.
She said 10million women got their ID cards prepared all over the country within last few months, including 14,000 in Fata and 44,000 in Balochistan, to get benefits of the programme. Forms of the scheme would be rejected if ID card numbers were found incorrect or if an applicant had applied twice, she added. Samina Gurki said the government and people should work together for the success of the programme. She said the government had distributed the scheme forms through the MNAs to avoid any corruption, adding that a telephonic complaint cell would also be established in every union council to receive complaints regarding the scheme.