ISLAMABAD: Disciplinary action has been initiated against government officers of Grade 17 and above who were registered as beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), the unconditional cash transfer poverty reduction programme in Pakistan.



According to sources, while show-cause notices have been sent to officers who had received the BISP assistance meant for the poor, the employees could also be sacked.



A report on the beneficiaries removed from the social welfare scheme has been presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan.



Last week, BISP chairperson Dr Sania Nishtar had said that the 2,543 government officers, who got themselves registered among the beneficiaries of the social safety net, were excluded from the programme.



PM Imran has censured the undeserving beneficiaries, directing the authorities to make their names public. He said the government could not spare those who robbed the poor.



The most number of government officials receiving the BISP assistance was from Sindh. As many as 1,122 officers of the province had been BISP beneficiaries.



The second highest number came from Balochistan where 741 government officials had signed up for the poverty alleviation scheme. From Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 403 officials availed the funds, while 137 did so from Punjab.



From the federal government, 62 officers received the programme funds. Additionally, one officer of the Pakistan Railways, 22 of Azad Kashmir, and 49 of Gilgit-Baltistan were also listed as recipients of the BISP.



From the BISP itself, six officers were listed among the beneficiaries.



The changes in the BISP database have been criticised by the PPP, which had launched the programme in 2008 on the basis of a poverty survey.



While former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf says the government must provide detailed information of the suspicious beneficiaries, for Bakhtawar Bhutto-Zardari it is “shameful that the idea of further suppressing and taking away independence of a woman came from a woman.”



It is the largest single social safety net programme in the country with nearly Rs90 billion distributed to 5.4 million beneficiaries in 2016.