Senate committee lauds performance of Bait-ul-Mal
By Fakhar Alam

ISLAMABAD—The Senate Standing Committee on Social Welfare which met in the Parliament House under the Chairmanship of Senator Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal has underlined the need for allocating adequate funds for Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal with a view to enable it to ameliorate the lot of teeming millions through focus on rehabilitation and to continue the meaningful contribution being made by it for the poorest of the poor.
The Committee Members appreciated the useful work being done by Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal and observed that PBM was providing social protection to marginalize segment of the society fully in line with its objectives. The Committee made this observation on Thursday while having an orientation on the working of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education and its attached departments/organizations here on Thursday.
Sectary Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education, Mr. G.M. Sikandar gave a comprehensive overview of the functions of the ministry and the various social welfare programmes and projects being undertaken by the ministry.
He informed the Committee that these are being undertaken in order to provide the welfare and skill development services to the masses and to provide welfare services for disadvantaged segments of the population in ICT, FATA and FANA, besides inducing the gaps and voids left by other sectors. The Committee was told that 56 social welfare projects were being undertaken including 36 development schemes whereas 20 schemes are on budget.
The Committee was informed that the social services (medical) projects are primarily established in the Federal Government hospitals with the objective to facilitate the deserving patients by arranging free medicines, blood, artificial limbs, pathological/clinical tests through Zakat, Bait-ul-Mal and Patient Welfare Association. In reply to a question regarding Tawana Pakistan Project, it was told that TPP was launched in 2002 with a cost of Rs. 3600.00 million for a period of 54 months and 530,000 girls of 5300 schools were provided food, micronutrients and de-worming medicines. It was told that the project remained operational till the close of the financial year 2005 but the feeding activities were suspended on account of non-transparent procedure of execution and administration of the project.