ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed that utmost transparency be ensured in the survey process to identify deserving persons for socio-economic sustenance so that no deserving citizen of Pakistan is left out from the social welfare net and also that this must be achieved in the shortest possible time.
Imran Khan issued the directives while presiding over a meeting at PM Office in Islamabad on Wednesday in which he received a detailed briefing regarding the formulation of the National Socio Economic Registry (NSER) under the Ehsaas program.
The briefing was attended by the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Dr Sania Nishtar, the Chairman NADRA Usman Yousaf Mobin and senior officers of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Division.
Dr Sania Nishtar briefed the prime minister that the initial survey conducted by BISP in 2011 had a number of shortcomings thus a fresh survey was commissioned which will be completed by 2020 with the help of NADRA. A number of NGOs have been contracted for data collection and verification in all provinces. The collected data will be geo-tagged and revalidated through third party so as to remove errors.
It was informed that a Central Control Room has been established where Parliamentarians can verify coverage of their respective constituencies and help in ensuring that no area is overlooked. It was further briefed that a “self-registration” drive will also be initiated so that no deserving person is left out from the Ehsaas program. This self-registration drive will then be counter-verified keeping in view the integrity & transparency of the program.
The prime minister said that “Ehsaas” is the flagship social welfare program of the government and aligns to the objective of poverty alleviation, education, food sustenance and health.
Imran Khan directed that the survey should ensure 100% coverage of the population in coordination with local governments and local administration. He emphasized that the survey was a national activity and the central database thus created would have utility for other organisations as well like Utility Stores for provision of food items to the deserving citizens and other social welfare organisations.
