Punjab govt saved Taunsa: adviser

Cheema accuses federal govt of wasting time in dealing with flood situation

LAHORE:

Punjab Chief Minister’s Adviser on Information Omar Sarfaraz Cheema has  said  the  Taunsa Town has  been  protected  due  to timely  measures  taken  by the Punjab government.

Talking to the media here after  visiting  the  PDMA Control Room, he said that excellent rescue and relief measures  had  been  taken to  cope  with  the  dangers of flood.

The people were protesting ver the inflated electricity and  fuel  prices  in  Punjab, but  no  protest  was  made by the people over floods in Punjab, he said.

He  alleged  that “the  incompetent  and  an  ineffcient federal government” came  to  realise  about  the flood  situation  after  one month.

The country had been facing flood calamity since August 1, but where was the federal government all that time, he asked and alleged that they had been enjoying “luxuries on foreign trips” at that time.

The Speaker of the National  Assembly,  Raja Pervez  Ashraf,  had  been on a foreign tour even now, he  said.  Cheema  claimed that when “we made them feel ashamed through the media”  then  they  began  to  worry  about  the  flood victims.

The  federal  government was indulging in some propaganda so as to create a sensation regarding the floods. He  said  that  the  media should rely on factual information about the flood situation before they aired their news items.

The  adviser  vowed  that the provincial government would not leave the people alone.  “We  are  standing with the flood victims until their  complete  rehabilitation,” said the minister. He said that Imran Khan, along with the chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, was going to hold a telethon for fundraising.

He  said  that  all  the  resources  would  be  utilised for  the  rehabilitation  of flood victims. The  federal  government scrambled to deal with the flood situation  in  the  last two days only whereas the Punjab  government  had been  continuously  working to provide relief to the flood  victims  for  the  last one month.

The Punjab chief minister had  constituted  a  cabinet  committee which was lending help to the government after ascertaining the losses. He  said  that “our  brothers  and  sisters  are  in  dire straits, but sensationalising he matter could aggravate the people’s problems as well that of the government’s”, adding that conditions were now moving towards normality.

The minister said that the PDMA was monitoring the flood  situation  round  the  clock.  He  said  that  Imran  Khan  had laid  the  foundation  of  building  10 new dams in the country.