Managing Director of Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) Amir Fida Paracha on Tuesday said that the PBM has not closed any project in Balochistan. He was briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety during a meeting, held here, under the chairmanship of Senator Naseebullah Bazai. The committee reviewed the cases of closure of facilities of PBM in Balochistan province in detail. Responding to the concerns of the committee about the facilities in Balochistan, Managing Director PBM said that no project has been closed by PBM in Balochistan. A budget of Rs 12 billion was requested from last year but a budget of 6.5 billion was given. This year, only six billion rupees had been allocated due to which many difficulties are being faced in the execution of the projects. Amir Fida Paracha told the standing committee that PBM has increased the budget from Rs. 74 million up to Rs. 99 million for health and education sectors in Balochistan, Rs. 49.6 million to Rs. 63 million for child labor and from Rs. 59 million to Rs. 101 million for women empowerment. He told the standing committee that the only problem was that the previous government had made plans for shelter homes with the assurance of an additional budget for it which was not released. Similarly, the finance ministry had also assured to provide a supplementary grant of one billion rupees which could not be released due to which the organization had to cut the budget of the ongoing projects. About closure of shelter homes, Amir Fida Paracha told the committee that only four people were availing the facility in the center established in Chaman, seven in Gwadar and few people in Warsak despite high expenses so those centers were closed. He said that those centers where at least 100 people are getting the facility will not be stopped under any circumstances. The centers were not closed due to any political interference or influence, he added. He requested the Standing Committee to retrieve an account having 99 million rupees which was dedicated to the project` Roti Sab Key Liye’ and said this would help implement all the projects in an efficient manner. The chairman and members of the committee acknowledged that the services of the PBM for the welfare of humanity are commendable and the performance of the institution is exemplary. The committee was briefed about the assistance given to the flood affected families under the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) and conveyed that the Prime Minister announced the assistance of Rs. 25,000 per family. A total of 70 billion rupees were distributed among 2.8 million flood affected families. The committee was briefed that 78 districts of the country were affected by the floods, including 34 districts of Balochistan province, 19 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, three districts of Punjab and 22 districts of Sindh province. The standing committee was told that 2.41 lac flood affected families of Balochistan province, 18 lac families of Sindh province, three lac families of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and three lac families of Punjab have been given assistance while due to lack of funds, countless victims are yet to receive assistance. The chairman and members of the committee said that the floods in 2022 were a huge natural disaster that affected a large number of people. Still thousands of affected families are waiting for relief. The officials told the committee that a budget of 103 billion had been requested to implement the flood relief assistance programme for all the victims while 70 billion rupees were provided. The members of the committee recommended that the assistance of the people should be implemented according to the new survey. The standing committee decided that the issue will be further reviewed in the presence of the Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety and NDMA in the next meeting. The committee also reviewed the performance of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund considering it an important institution. The meeting was attended by the Senators Prof. Dr. Mehr Taj Roghani, Sami Yazdi, Keshoo Bai, Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo, Kamran Murtaza, Maulvi Faiz Muhammad, Dr. Sania Nishtar and Senator Mushtaq Ahmed besides Additional Secretary Dr. Farah Masood Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, Secretary BISP Yusuf Khan, Managing Director PBM, Amir Fida Paracha, CEO PPAF Nadir Gul and other senior officials attended.