Flood relief: Senators to distribute aid themselves

ISLAMABAD:

Exhibiting what appears to be an extraordinary lack of trust in government agencies, members of the Senate on Wednesday announced that they would be distributing their donations to the flood victims in Sindh and Balochistan through a committee comprising senators themselves.

Members of the upper house of parliament have collected over Rs13 million through their donations for the Senate Emergency Relief Fund. The Senate members formalised the arrangement by forming a special committee comprising members of every political party.

“We will go ourselves for distribution of the food items amongst the flood victims for our satisfaction. We will not hand over the material either to DCOs (district coordination officers) or other administrative machinery,” said PML-N’s Senator Ishaq Dar.

Dar said that the decision was taken during the special committee meeting. He apprised the House about individual contribution of lawmakers in this regard. He said that another special committee had been constituted for procuring food items.

During the proceedings, the house showed consensus to a proposal of requesting the prime minister to divert a major chunk of his discretionary fund (Rs27 billion) for the people in the calamity-hit areas.

Senate Opposition Leader Maulana Ghafoor Haideri said that senators will meet Prime Minister Gilani for utilising the funds for flood relief.

Haideri also said that the government should waive electricity bills, offer interest-free loans to farmers and make arrangements for children’s education in flood-hit areas.





Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2011.