Parliament received word that the Benazir Income Support Programme stopped financial aid to 229,157 government workers or their spouses after audits revealed their ineligibility, alongside recovering Rs712.4 million from unqualified beneficiaries.
Syed Imran Ahmad Shah, the Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, stated in a written parliamentary response that the recovered funds included Rs545.784 million collected via the Federal Investigation Agency, Rs21.550 million gathered from BISP staff, and Rs145.066 million taken from other government entities.
Disciplinary measures and recovery procedures have begun against 236 BISP personnel found at fault, according to the minister.
Fresh records regarding government workers and pensioners were secured from ministries, autonomous bodies, state-owned enterprises, and the Controller General of Accounts, with over six million files sent for profiling and subsequent steps.
Out of the blocked group, 32,971 cases involving government employees or spouses received exemptions from repayment because the BISP Board decided that monthly pensions of Rs29,000 or less qualified for exclusion.
Auditing, data refreshing, profiling, suspension, and collection efforts remain ongoing, and the minister noted that total recoverable sums and the count of unauthorized recipients might shift as work continues.
Addressing grievances about unauthorized fees, illegal cuts, fake fingerprint verifications, and other payment abuses, the minister explained that authorities review every complaint case by case and apply relevant regulations.
Partner institutions investigate matters tied to banks and payment service providers, leading to penalties, cash recovery, or other steps based on the findings.
Fraudulent acts or severe misconduct trigger formal legal or disciplinary proceedings to protect the payments meant for recipients.
Six partner financial institutions handle disbursements through retail networks, which face oversight via field inspections, recipient complaints, audits, and automated controls.
Discovered violations result in contractual penalties, cash recovery, or the suspension and blacklisting of offending agents.
The official response omitted total figures for bank branches, campsites, point-of-sale agents, and ATMs, deferring bank-specific and province-specific breakdowns to an attached annexure.
Plans are underway to transition the programme toward digital direct payments through Social Protection Wallets to limit middlemen and human involvement.
This shift seeks to give recipients more security, transparency, and choices while guaranteeing they obtain their full sanctioned funds.
An Integrated Grievance Management System linked with financial partners was also launched to handle complaints and boost payment safety under State Bank of Pakistan rules.
Upgrades to this grievance platform will proceed incrementally based on operational requirements.
