The Universal Service fund has taken the initiatives on the orders of Ministry of Information Technology and Communication to set to distribute 18,000 smart phones, which have the worth of millions of rupees and they are also provided with mobile balance. These handsets are given to the deserving people under Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) but they did not complete any research work.
The officials of the Ministry of IT gave the briefing to the national assembly standing committee on the information technology and telecommunication. They informed that the pilot project was started in which 18,000 smart phones will be distributed to the beneficiaries of the BISP. The parliamentarians asked the question about the logic, rational and research work behind the project, then officials told that the idea was to make the phones affordable for the users of BIOSP.
It is also stated that these smart phones are provided to the beneficiaries of BISP to use it for the communication and these smart phones are provided on the basis of proposal but no concrete research work has been done on this project. The committee also asked the questions on the collection and utilization of the amount of USG, which is over Rs.100 billion and the ministry of finance played the role for the utilization of this amount, which is reflected in the foreign reserves. It is reported that about $2 billion have been reserved and the chairman expressed his doubts about the amount to be collected and utilized by USF. The chairman of the committee said that the USF money could be converted into dollars so that they can earn huge profit over it.
It is also stated that such amount can be parked in the account against which the government can borrow huge loans as the company does not have the potential to utilize this amount. Shazia Marri reported that the finance minister takes the decision for the utilization of the money of USF and the government has no role and they cannot make decision for the utilization of the USF fund. The committee also directed the ministry to give complete and comprehensive details of USF fund, its collection and utilization in the next meeting.
