Restrictions from FD delayed fresh appointments in BISP: Chairperson

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Rubina Khalid has said the BISP intends to recruit new employees, but restrictions from the Finance Division have delayed fresh appointments.

Rubina Khalid expressed these views during a meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, chaired by Senator Al Haj Muhammad Umer here on Tuesday.

The Senate panel has summoned Finance Minister Muhammad Auranzgeb for a briefing on the matter in the next meeting.

“The induction of new employees in the BISP is necessary to enhance its functionality, but restrictions from the Finance Division due to financial constraints have delayed fresh appointments,” the BISP chairperson briefed the committee.

The meeting was held to review the performance of the BISP and the Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM).

The committee unanimously agreed on summoning the Finance Minister to the next meeting on the issue of providing sufficient funds for new recruitments in the BISP.

Khalid briefed the committee that a total of 11 officers of Grade 19 and above, primarily from the Education Department, are serving on deputation. She clarified that no officers of the said grades from the Health Department are serving in the BISP.

“The practice of appointing deputationists instead of relying on regular inductions creates unavoidable gaps in parent departments, and weakens institutional capacity when the deputationists return to their parent departments,” Senator Rubina Khalid said.

On the matters concerning the PBM, the committee took up the issue of advance payments made for products without delivery.

The officials concerned at the PBM informed the Senate panel that an inquiry is under way, and assured that the inquiry report will be submitted before the committee within a month.

The committee chairman said the report should be submitted at the earliest.

The committee recommended that the Finance Ministry extend “full support to both the BISP and the PBM for strengthening human resource capacity.”

Apart from Rubina Khalid, the senators Dost Ali Jeesar and Rubina Qaim Khani, and the officials from the concerned departments attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025