Flood season: Dykes will be repaired in 24 hours says Khanzada

LAHORE:

Cabinet Committee on Flood Relief chairman Shuja Khanzada said on Wednesday that the flow of water in all rivers across the province was back to normal.

He was speaking to journalists during a press conference at the Civil Secretariat. Minister for Food Bilal Yasin and Relief Commissioner Nadeem Ashraf were also present on the occasion. Khanzada said that the flow of water in River Chenab was 350,000 cusecs at the Punjnad. He said it was expected to decrease to 280,000 in the next twelve hours. Khanzada said repairs to dykes would be completed in the next 24 hours. He said relief activities in inundated areas of the Punjab were continuing consistently. Khanzada said committees had started assessing losses under the supervision of district coordination officers.

Zaeem Qadri, the government spokesman, said rescue operations had been completed in Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujranwala and Hafizabad. He said that the Planning and Development Department had revealed that the floods had damaged infrastructure worth Rs10 billion. Qadri said there was no shortage of fuel and food in the province.

He said 274 people had been killed in the monsoon rains and the flood. Qadri said Rs1.6 million had been given to the heirs of the deceased as compensation. He said breaches to dykes had been made at 193 locations. Qadri said the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund had been established for the benefit of those affected. He said ministers and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmakers would donate their monthly salary to it. Qadri said government officials would also donate a portion of their monthly salaries to the fund.  He said the floods had damaged 137,000 houses in 2,847 villages.

Qadri said floods had affected 2.38 million acres of agricultural land. He said losses were being assessed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2014.