Daily wage workers on Chaman border: Ministry asked to arrange funds for relief package

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety (PA&SS) to arrange funds for special relief package for 8,000 daily wage workers on Chaman border through bridge financing, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.

At a recent meeting, the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety briefed the Prime Minister during a meeting of the Provincial Apex Committee on National Action Plan convened in Quetta on October 10, 2023, who had directed, interalia, to provide six-months financial support to register daily wage workers in Chaman @ Rs. 20,000/-per month.

The responsibility of this arrangement had been assigned to Secretary, BISP and Chief Secretary, Government of Balochistan. Subsequently, the Chief Secretary, Government of Balochistan, in a letter addressed to BISP had apprised that there were around 8,000 daily wage workers on Chaman Border, commonly known as “Lagharees”, who were registered with the district administration and Frontier Corps North and their data would be shared with BISP by the Government of Balochistan.

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In this regard, Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety on October 18, 2023 moved a summary for the Prime Minister, through Finance Division, containing the following proposals for providing cash assistance to the daily-wage workers on Chaman Border: (i) an amount of Rs. 20,000/- per month, per beneficiary, for six months may be provided to around 8,000 daily-wage workers on Chaman Border; (ii) beneficiaries of the program will be identified by the Government of Balochistan and their data will be shared with BISP on a prescribed format; (iii) the cash assistance will be provided through BISP’s partner bank in Balochistan, i.e., Habib Bank Limited (HBL), by opening bank account of each beneficiary; (iv) beneficiaries will be able to withdraw their payments through HBL’s POS-agents via Biometric Verification System (BVS).

Government of Balochistan will coordinate with the beneficiaries in this regard; (iv) Media/ awareness campaign regarding the program will be run by Government of Balochistan and; (v) targeting and eligibility-related grievances/ issues will be dealt by Government of Balochistan at every stage, whereas, payment-related grievances/ issues will be dealt by BISP, as per the contract signed with HBL.

Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety further noted that regarding the source of funding for the program, BISP proposed that due to urgency of matter, BISP can meet the expenditure of Rs.966.3 million (including Rs. 5.3 million service charges to be paid to HBL), from the allocated budget for FY 2023-24 and Finance Division may subsequently provide additional funds amounting to Rs.966.3 million to BISP, so that its expenditure and indicative targets for FY 2023-24 were achieved.

However, Finance Division argued that provision of additional funds through supplementary Grant was not possible at this stage as per commitment with IMF. Therefore, the expenditure on grant of special relief package for daily wage workers may either be borne by Government of Balochistan or by BISP from its own budgetary allocations/ resources through re-appropriation. The Prime Minister approved the proposals along with comments of Finance Division.

It was stated that the only way in which fiscal space can be created with BISP was by utilising Rs. 955.3 million through re-appropriation in its own budget. These funds were; however, already earmarked for set targets to be achieved through BISP’s existing programs.

Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety submitted following proposals for consideration and approval of the ECC: (i) Federal Government through Finance Division may request Government of Balochistan to provide the required funds, either as an advance, or subsequently through reimbursement to BISP; (ii) in case funds cannot be provided by Government of Balochistan, approval of Federal Government may be conveyed to BISP to carry out amendments in the budget for CFY through re-appropriation, in addition to making adjustments in the program targets for the current year and; (iii) modalities for identification of beneficiaries and disbursement of funds and detailed operational/ implementation modalities will be approved by the BISP Board.

During the ensuing discussions it was suggested that such expenditures should be met by the provinces at their own level because the Federal Government does not have funds to cater to such demands on regular basis. The Chief Secretary Balochistan should contact Finance Division for future arrangements in this regard to draw a sustainable future course of action.

After detailed discussion, the ECC decided that required funds for the purpose shall be arranged by the BISP through bridge financing. Secretary, Finance Division and Chief Secretary, Government of Balochistan shall deliberate on the issue and suggest viable recommendation thereon to the ECC for consideration.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023