Daily Times

SUKKUR: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Monday inaugurated expansion of the Sindh government’s initiative – Union Council Based Poverty Reduction Programme (UCBPRP) and the Sindh Rural Support Organisation (SRSO) – which aim at freeing two million people from slough of poverty by providing them interest-free loans.

The PPP scion was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, MNA Faryal Talpur, Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and others.

The Sindh government has extended financial support to the rural support programmes (RSPs) for rural people to enable them to articulate their aspirations and to effectively marshal the resources they need to meet their identified needs.

The UCBPRP is aimed at targeting the poor through the process of social mobilisation, harnessing their potential and enabling them to build productive assets, reduce vulnerabilities and improve by and large, the condition of their village or locality.

Speaking on the occasion, Bilawal said that the PPP had not only carried out legislation for empowerment of women but also launched several programmes for financial stability of the womenfolk.

He pledged to expand BISP programme after coming into power in next elections.

He said that local social bodies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and charity organisations could play an important role in organising people at local level, besides resolving local issues. He pointed out that PML-N took up axes against non-governmental and charity organisations but under the PPP government in Sindh NGOs and social organisations were working closely.

The PPP head honcho said that he had been informed that the scope of UCBRRP had been extended to 11 districts, 52 tehsils and 395 union councils, ergo, extending benefits to 600,000 families. “This figure will reach 1.1 million families in the next five years.”

Published in Daily Times, January 9^th 2018.