TIMERGARA: The beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) from parts of Lower Dir and Bajaur Agency have said that they face hardships in getting their stipend.

They said that they had to wait for long for their turn at banks and ‘easy paisa’ shops to get the amount and often returned home without getting the money. Banaras Khan and Israr Khan, residents of Bajaur Agency, said they reached the easy paisa franchise at Talash Bazaar early in the morning and kept waiting for more than 8 hours.

They said that there had been no drinking water facility, no washroom and no shade for women and their minor children. They said that they came to Talash for getting their three-month stipend owing to heavy rush at banks and easy paisa shops in Timergara.

Rauf Khan, a resident of Bandagai Talash, said that his mother had stuck in the rush and was unable to get her stipend despite waiting in the sun for seven hours. He said that BISP beneficiaries had to visit an ATM after every three months for withdrawal of their financial aid but majority of the ATMs were closed. “Majority of the women waiting here have neither eaten nor drunk something since morning,” he added.

The BISP beneficiaries complained that almost all the authorised easy paisa shops had no waiting room, no drinking water and no washroom owing to which women from far-flung areas were facing inconvenience.

They demanded of the BISP authorities to make the process of stipend reimbursement easier. Same situation was witnessed at different points in Timergara where the beneficiaries continued to wait for hours to get their stipends.

COUNCIL: The members of district council on Thursday threatened to tender resignation en masse if government failed to restore the local government funds it had promised in the start.

The session of the council was held with its convener Abdul Rashid in the chair. Speaking on the occasion, members of opposition Malik Mohammadzeb, Barkat Khan, Mukhtiar Khan, Asif Aziz and others said they were powerless and could do nothing to resolve problems of people.

Members of ruling party Maulana Imran, Saiful Islam, Fazal Qadir and others said that provincial government had cut local government funds. They demanded of the government to restore all the funds it had announced earlier for local governments in the province.

The council members also expressed anger and dissatisfaction over performance of Pesco, traffic police and health department.

Members of both treasury and opposition benches threatened to resign if government did not restore their funds.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2017