The Ba-Himmat Buzurg program is Punjab’s social pension for poor elderly people. This guide explains what it was set up to do, what it paid, where things stand as of September 2026, and what an elderly person’s family can do now.

It is run by the Punjab Social Protection Authority (PSPA), and the social protection helpline is 1221.

Why the Ba-Himmat Buzurg program exists

Pakistan has pensions for people who worked in the formal sector. Government employees retire with something.

Everyone else reaches old age with nothing: the labourer, the farm worker, the domestic worker, the woman who raised a family and never held a salaried job. Beyond formal-sector employees, there was little public financial support for elderly people in Punjab.

Ba-Himmat Buzurg was created to close that gap. The Punjab government launched it in November 2020 as part of its Ehsaas programme, with an initial fund of Rs 2 billion for deserving people aged 65 and above. PSPA described the aim as protecting older people from livelihood risks and helping them live a dignified life, with less dependence on relatives and neighbours.

That framing matters. It was designed as a pension, not charity.

Status as of September 2026

This is the most important part of this guide, so we will be plain about what we could and could not confirm.

  • The program page is gone. The Ba-Himmat Buzurg page on PSPA’s website, pspa.punjab.gov.pk, now shows a “page not found” error.
  • It is missing from PSPA’s program list. The “What We Do” page and the main menu list Aaghosh, Zewar-e-Taleem, Humqadam, Khud Mukhtar and others, but not Ba-Himmat Buzurg.
  • The home page still counts it. PSPA’s home page shows 80,022 Ba-Himmat Buzurg beneficiaries, so people have been enrolled. It does not say whether they are still being paid.
  • No new round announced. We found no official PSPA announcement or credible news report of new enrolment in 2025 or 2026.

Some blogs and videos claim that registration has reopened, or that the amount has gone up. We could not confirm any of these claims from an official source. Do not pay anyone who says they can register an elderly person for this pension.

Who it was for

From the launch announcements and PSPA’s own description, the program was aimed at:

  • People aged 65 and above
  • Who are poor, with little or no income
  • With a valid CNIC
  • In families that are not eligible for the federal BISP, as PSPA described it

Reports from the launch show a clear focus on elderly women. At the launch ceremony, the Chief Minister handed cards to elderly women, and The News reported that 1,700 elderly women in Jhang district alone would get the payment.

The reasoning is straightforward. Elderly women in Pakistan are the least likely to have ever held formal employment, the least likely to hold assets in their own name, and therefore the least likely to have any independent income in old age.

ba himmat buzurg program: GoPunjab key facts card
Ba-Himmat Buzurg was designed as a dignified social pension for elderly people outside formal pension systems.

How much it paid

When it was launched in 2020, the program was reported to pay Rs 2,000 a month. PSPA has not published a current amount that we could find.

Payment figures are policy decisions that change over time. Treat Rs 2,000 as the launch amount, not a promise, and confirm the current position with PSPA on 1221.

The CNIC problem that blocks elderly applicants

Government programs check age and identity against NADRA records. That creates a specific, common obstacle for exactly the people this program targets.

Many elderly Pakistanis, particularly women in rural areas, have:

  • A CNIC with an estimated or incorrect date of birth, because no birth was ever registered
  • An expired CNIC that was never renewed
  • No CNIC at all

If the date of birth on the card says you are 61 when you are 70, the system sees 61.

Fix the CNIC first. It is the single most useful thing an elderly person can do, and it unlocks every other program too. Our NADRA CNIC guide explains how to apply, renew, or correct a record.

What to do now

There is no public web form for this program, and we could not confirm that enrolment is open. These steps help whatever happens next:

  1. Make sure the elderly person’s CNIC is valid and the date of birth is correct.
  2. Make sure the household’s NSER survey record is current at a BISP Tehsil office. When the program was set up in 2020, Dawn reported that district teams worked from data held by BISP. See our NSER guide.
  3. Call the social protection helpline 1221 and ask specifically whether Ba-Himmat Buzurg is enrolling in your district, how families are picked now, and what it pays.

Punjab also has its own household registry, PSER, which is free to join at pser.punjab.gov.pk. It was used to pick families for the Nigehban Ramzan package in 2025 and 2026, but we found no official source that links it to Ba-Himmat Buzurg.

If someone in your family already gets it

If an elderly relative was enrolled and is still being paid, a few habits protect the payment:

  • Complete any verification request promptly, including fingerprint checks
  • Keep the CNIC valid, not expired
  • Keep an active mobile number registered on the beneficiary’s own CNIC
  • Report a change of address

While the program was being set up in 2020, district teams were told to check the old lists to confirm that the people on them were still alive, Dawn reported. A stopped payment can be a missed check rather than a removal, so call 1221 before you assume the worst.

Helping an elderly relative

Most applications for any program are handled by a son, daughter, or grandchild rather than by the elderly person alone. If that is you, a few things make the difference:

  • Start with the CNIC. Check it is valid and the date of birth is right before anything else. Everything downstream depends on it.
  • Go with them. Verification steps often need the person present, and a NADRA or bank visit is hard to manage alone at 70.
  • Write down the reference numbers. Elderly applicants are rarely given anything in writing they can keep track of.
  • Do not hand over their OTP, even to help. You can assist without ever passing a code to a third party.
  • Check the mobile number on the record is one they, or you, actually answer.

Other help for elderly people in Punjab

While the status of Ba-Himmat Buzurg is unclear, these may help:

  • Sehat Card for hospital treatment at empanelled private hospitals, which matters most in later life
  • Himmat Card and Humqadam if the elderly person also has a disability
  • EOBI pension if the person ever worked in a job registered with EOBI
  • Benazir Kafaalat, the federal quarterly stipend for women in low-income families

Punjab’s budget for 2026-27 also includes Rs 2.6 billion to set up old age homes in several districts, the provincial finance minister said in June 2026.

Watch for fraud targeting the elderly

Elderly people are a common fraud target because they are less likely to check a claim.

  • Registration for government programs is free. Nobody charges for it.
  • No agent can add a name to the list.
  • Never share an OTP, including with someone claiming to be from PSPA or a bank.
  • Payments come through official channels, never a private individual collecting on someone’s behalf.

If a family member handles the process, they should still never hand over an OTP. Report demands for money through the Pakistan Citizen’s Portal.

Contact

To see which Punjab and federal programs your household may qualify for, try our free eligibility checker.

GoPunjab is an independent information website. We are not PSPA, cannot enrol anyone, check a record, or release a payment. We only explain how the official process works.