D.I.KHAN: Minister of State for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Faisal Karim Kundi on Tuesday visited Dera Press Club and congratulated the newly elected body of the press club.
On his arrival, the state minister was warmly welcomed by Dera Press Club President Muhammad Yasin Qureshi, General Secretary Iqbal Bhatti and other members.
Speaking on this occasion, the state minister said that two new offices of Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) were being opened in Dera City for Dynamic Survey.
He said the BISP dynamic survey has been started across the country which causes extra burden on the BISP centers that was why the separate offices were being opened for the survey.
He said two new centers would be established in Dera city including one each at Town Hall and Syndicate. Similarly, separate offices would be established at tehsil level for dynamic survey, he added.
Kundi requested the women who did not have BISP cards to participate in the dynamic survey. The women should visit BISP office along with their CNIC and Form-B so that they could also be provided with education stipend of their children.
Under the education stipend, he informed, the girls were being given Rs 2000 and boys were getting Rs 1500. The girls were given more stipends in order to encourage female education.
Similarly, he said, a nutrition program was underway with the support of World Food Programme.
He said 8.9 women from across the country were getting Rs 8500 stipend after every three months.
Moreover, Kundi added, the BISP card holders could get subsidized items from Utility Stores on monthly basis as wheat flour was available at Rs 400 per 10 kg bag, Ghee at Rs 300 per kg, Sugar at Rs 70 per kg for them.
At this time about 150,000 from D.I.Khan district were beneficiaries of BISP, he informed.
The federal government had announced to give Rs 25,000 to each family who got affected with last year’s floods. According to NDMA data, about 2.8 million families from across the country were affected with floods last year out of which around 100,000 families were from Dera Ismail Khan.
He said approximately Rs 70 billion had been disbursed among flood victims across the country out of which Rs two billion were distributed in Dera.
He assured the elected representatives of the Dera Press Club that he would play an advocacy role to fulfill their demands including approval of Journalist Colony.
Later, he also held a meeting with a journalist delegation from Tank here at Dera Press Club.
Earlier, the state minister also visited Mufti Mehmood Hospital where he was welcomed by Hospital Director Dr. Umar Shah and Medical Director Dr. Waseem.