Web Desk: Vehicles operated by the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) consumed a substantial amount of fuel over the past five years, according to a report submitted to Parliament, prompting scrutiny of spending on the programme’s official fleet.
The parliamentary document says BISP operates 75 official vehicles across its headquarters and regional offices in different parts of the country.
According to the report, the vehicles collectively consumed more than 810,000 litres of fuel during the five-year period, generating costs running into tens of millions of rupees.
The document shows that BISP headquarters in Islamabad has the largest concentration of vehicles, with 28 in operation.
Punjab has 12 vehicles, while Sindh has 17. The programme operates seven vehicles in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and six in Balochistan.
Another five vehicles are assigned to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, according to the parliamentary record.
The figures highlight the scale of the official transport network maintained by the cash assistance programme across the country.
Vehicles assigned to the Islamabad region consumed 402,400 litres of fuel over the five years, according to the document.
Punjab’s fleet used 100,788 litres during the same period.
The report also lists fuel consumption for the Sindh region at 1,828,850 litres.
However, the Sindh figure is higher than the more than 810,000-litre total stated elsewhere in the same material. The apparent discrepancy could not be resolved from the information provided and may reflect a reporting or transcription error.
The fuel figures have brought fresh attention to the operating costs associated with BISP’s administrative machinery.
BISP is one of Pakistan’s major social protection programmes, providing financial assistance to eligible low-income households. The parliamentary disclosure, however, focuses on expenditure related to its official vehicles rather than the programme’s impact on beneficiaries.
The report does not provide a consolidated figure for vehicle fuel expenditure in the material available, although it says the cost runs into tens of millions of rupees.
The disclosure is likely to fuel further questions about the management of public resources, including vehicle use, fuel consumption and administrative expenses within government welfare programmes.
Further clarification of the conflicting fuel figures would be needed to establish the precise amount consumed and the total cost incurred over the five-year period.
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