ISLAMABAD: Government on Saturday took an action against officials, who benefited from the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), and fired four grade-17 officers in connection with the scam.
Officers, who exploited the BISP by enrolling their wives as beneficiaries, have been dismissed from service on the charges of corruption and misconduct while s440,196 were also recovered as a part of the anti-corruption drive.
Four grade 17 BISP officers dismissed from service on charges of corruption and misconduct as they got their wives enrolled as BISP beneficiaries fraudulently, using their position in BISP. Rs 440,196 has been recovered as part of #Ehsaas Integrity & anti corruption drive.
It is pertinent to mention here that among those exploited the rights of poor included BISP Assistant Directors Muhammad Nouman Zaheem, Shafi Ullah, Syed Fazle Amin and Sabeel Khan.
On Jan 17, the top government officials, who took benefit from BISP, have been given show-cause notices regarding termination from their jobs as their names have started to surface.
Inquiry against the officials including BISP Assistant Director in Dera Ghazi Khan, Mohammad Nauman has been launched on the directives of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, who had expressed strong displeasure when a report of beneficiaries disqualified from BISP database, on the basis of being government employees or servants of railways, was presented to him.
Meanwhile, the government has issued show cause notices to the government employees who have been exploiting the rights of the poor using the credentials of their wives for nine years.
Officers, who exploited BISP by enrolling their wives, have been given 10 days to respond. Jobs will be terminated if they do not respond satisfactorily.
According to details, 2,543 senior officers were removed from the BISP list and officials from Balochistan and Sindh had received highest amounts through the programme.
Overall, three officers of grade 21 and 59 officers of grade 20 quarterly received the sum under the programme whereas 429 officials of grade 19 were also among the beneficiaries. 342 officers of grade 18 from Sindh and 1,240 officers of grade 17 overall derived advantages from the scheme.
Out of total 820,165 beneficiaries disqualified from the BISP database, 14,730 were government employees or servants of railways, post office and the BISP programme as the aid was not meant for government servants. According to the data, 127,826 were those whose spouses were government employees or employees of the above-mentioned departments.
The government has raised the quarterly grant from Rs5,000 to Rs5,500 for 4.3 million beneficiaries under the Ehsaas Kifalat Programme of the BISP, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation and BISP Chairman Dr Sania Nishtar had said in a statement.
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