ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Kheal Das Kohistani has called for transferring the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to provincial governments and urged authorities to take action against alleged corruption within the welfare initiative.
Kohistani said mechanisms are available to investigate corruption involving public funds. He alleged that beneficiaries had faced illegal deductions and that agents and government employees are involved in extracting money from deserving recipients.
The minister said a significant number of corruption complaints had originated from Sindh. He called on relevant institutions to investigate the allegations, hold those responsible accountable and recover funds paid to fake or ineligible beneficiaries.
Kohistani argued that provincial governments should manage BISP, which he said was worth more than Rs800 billion. He maintained that transferring responsibility to the provinces could improve oversight and administration.
According to information presented in the National Assembly, authorities removed 2,259,404 beneficiaries from BISP records between July 2025 and June 2026. Payments to more than 800,000 additional beneficiaries were also suspended.
An audit report identified 140,488 government employees and their family members as BISP beneficiaries during 2019-20.
The government also reported recovering more than Rs712 million from fake and ineligible beneficiaries. The Federal Investigation Agency recovered over Rs545 million, while more than Rs21 million was recovered from BISP employees.
Furthermore, the ministry received 55,579 complaints during the previous fiscal year involving unauthorized deductions, embezzlement and misappropriation.
The allegations have renewed calls for stronger accountability, transparent payments and effective protection for low-income families relying on government assistance.
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