ISLAMABAD:National Assembly on Monday approved three demands for grants worth Rs 859,976,518,000 while rejecting 45 cut motions moved by opposition members.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, presented the demands for the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division and its attached departments in the House.
The approved allocations include Rs806,272,000 for the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Rs844,780,152,000 for the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), and Rs14,390,094,000 for Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal.
Responding to points raised by opposition lawmakers, Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Syed Imran Ahmed Shah said the ministry was created in 2019 during the PTI government, adding that those who set it up were now criticising its performance.
He said PTI lawmakers had every right to criticise, but in doing so they were damaging their own position and trying to block the ministry’s budget through cut motions.
He expressed surprise that instead of supporting welfare and charity-related initiatives, opposition members were opposing them.
The minister said lawmakers spent more time discussing general political issues, particularly PTI founder, rather than focusing on poverty alleviation.
He addded that Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal was established in 1991 by PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, while the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was launched in 2008 under then prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. He added that the opposition had submitted 45 cut motions, mostly related to Bait-ul-Mal and BISP.
Highlighting reforms, he said the eligibility threshold for educational scholarships under BISP in Balochistan had been raised from 32 to 60, reflecting the province’s priority.
He further said that 17 of the 25 BISP mobile vans were operating in Balochistan, while 21 of 73 educational institutions benefiting from Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal scholarships were also located in the province.
He said dynamic registration centres had been set up in all 157 districts of the country, including 160 in Balochistan, while more than 100 facilitation centres out of 578 were also established there.
On the direction of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he added, a digital wallet system had been introduced for BISP beneficiaries to ensure payments through a more transparent process and reduce complaints.
He said Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal had also been digitised, with further reforms aimed at improving transparency in poverty alleviation programmes.