Ehsaas launches web-portal for Ehsaas Kafaalat beneficiaries to report biometric failures

Safeguarding specialized measures to resolve payment issues being encountered by recipients of Ehsaas Kafaalat, a web-portal has been opened by Ehsaas to receives complaints of biometric failures. Officially, Kafaalat cash transfers under Ehsaas have commenced earlier this week countrywide and within less than a week, the new portal (http://complaints.pass.gov.pk/) has been opened online to solicit applications of Kafaalat beneficiaries in a simple four- step process.

As part of the complaint mechanism, Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, staff of partnering banks- Habib Bank Limited and Alfalah Bank Limited and field staff of Ehsaas will be able to create complaint applications of biometric failures by entering full name, Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) number and contact number beneficiary along with his or her own contact number to facilitate easy tracking and follow up. With the submission of online application, the portal instantaneously auto-generates the unique reference number for each Kafaalat applicant.

During her visit to Hazro campsite on Thursday, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar took to the twitter and said, “9 am: I visited @Ehsaas_Pk payment camp in Hazro. Based on field insights, we are opening biometric failure complaints web-portal. I learnt about importance of WhatsApp groups of DCs and ACs to get our message out to people.

These simple things are transformative for the program.” And, as a pleasant surprise, the portal has been opened within 24 hours following the visit to facilitate biometric issues in payments. Describing details of the newly opened portal, Dr. Sania said, “According to Ehsaas digital payment process, the biometric verification of thumb or finger impressions is mandatory to disburse cash to Kafaalat beneficiaries. However, Ehsaas will facilitate direct payments to Kafaalat beneficiaries through a supplementary payment solution who are facing problems in withdrawing money owing to defying biometric identification.” She further added, “ This portal is also being introduced in the form of mobile app for Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, staff of partnering banks- Habib Bank Limited and Alfalah Bank Limited and field staff of Ehsaas so that they can report the biometric issues directly.”

Earlier today, she made a visit to Ehsaas Kafaalat campsites in district Mianwali to meet Kafaalat beneficiaries and gain insights. During the visit, she met with women who were waiting for their turn to receive payment. She sat with them in the queue, listened to their problems, and assured easy solution to their problems. She also advised the bank and Ehsaas regional staff to process payments speedily so that Kafaalat recipients do not have to wait too long for collecting their stipends.

Since the payments have begun at the start of this week, Dr. Sania and her team is in the field everyday to gain insights for improving the quality of the massive Ehsaas Kafaalat disbursal operations in the country. In the last 5 days, Dr. Sania has made visits to various campsites and ATMs in Islamabad, Attock, Rawalpindi and Mianwali to identify payment issues and provide solutions to the destitute Kafaalat women. This also featured meetings with regional stakeholders, district administrations and partnering banks.