Model villages being set up in flood zones

RAHIM YAR KHAN/ MUZAFFARGARH: The first model village is being constructed in Khangarh for flood-affected people in the district.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Shrif inaugurated the village and is visiting flood zones throughout southern Punjab to identify other areas where model villages are to be established.

The chief minister inaugurated this 150-house model village on Saturday. Each house will have two rooms, a washroom and a shed for livestock.

“We are trying to establish some basic living standards for residents of these villages, standards that they did not have before the floods,” said Amin Siddiqui, one of the designers of the model homes.

The chief minister has ordered that the district administration officials of Muzaffargarh distribute Rs20,000 each among the Meeran Milaa flood victims as soon as possible and told the villagers to keep him informed of progress in this regard. “If you don’t get the money by mid-October the local police and authorities should be informed and we will take action,” Sharif said. The chief minister announced that the keys to the houses would be distributed among the villagers once the model village was completed within two months.

Naseer Bukhsh, a Khangarh resident, said that the chief minister had personally told him that he would receive a house in the model village. “I am extremely grateful for the CM’s generosity and for what the government is trying to do here for this village,” Bukhsh said. National Assembly standing committee on food and agriculture chairman Javed Iqbal Warriach told a trade delegation from Rahim Yar Khan that the rehabilitation of flood victims was a priority of the government. “We are trying to ensure that the flood victims can rebuild their homes and the new ‘model villages’ scheme is also being considered in Rahim Yar Khan,” he said, adding that it was essential that the government helped the people restart their lives after the devastation of the floods.

So far Faisalabad has led the efforts in sending relief goods to flood-affected areas in southern Punjab, said the Faisalabad district coordination officer (DCO) on Saturday. Consignments of food and other items have been dispatched to Mianwali, Jhang, Muzaffargar, Rajanpur, DG Khan, Charsada, Nowshera, Peshawar and other flooded areas by the Faisalabad district administration with the cooperation of citizens and police.

DCO Naseem Sadiq said that several NGOs in Faisalabad had expressed an intention to help build model villages in other districts that had experienced the worst of the floods. Sadiq also lauded the NGOs for collecting relief goods for flood victims.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2010.