Release of flood relief grants begins

CM launches payment to owners of houses in affected areas

LAHORE:

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Thursday inaugurated the release of relief funds amounting to Rs12.2 billion to the people affected by this year’s flood.

Addressing a ceremony organised in this regard, he said a total of Rs12.2 billion would be given to 55,400 flood victims in the province. The government will pay Rs280,000 each to the owners of 47,500 mud houses and Rs400,000 each to the owners of 8,000 concrete houses affected by the flood.

The chief minister said valuable work had been done by the armed forces and NGOs for the victims.

He said he had visited different areas of Dera Ghazi Khan to assess the situation and found out that the homes of thousands of people, mosques and schools had been washed away.

He commended the efforts of officials to serve the affected people and noted that a relief distribution system had been developed in two months. He said the transparency of the aid programme was unprecedented as the record was available on the PDMA system. The chief minister said the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and foreign ambassadors had also praised the aid programme.

The CM said the Ehsaas programme launched by former prime minister Imran Khan was growing. He said helping the helpless brought blessings.

The chief minister claimed that work done in the province to serve the common people during the past three months was equivalent to a year’s performance of other governments.

He said children in the province were getting free education till graduation. He said girl students of South Punjab would get three-fold stipend than the past.

The chief minister said he and Khan had done a telethon together and gathered a large amount for helping the flood survivors, while others knew that the people would not pay them anything. He said a survey had not been conducted in Sindh to provide flood relief from the collected amount.

Chef Minister Pervaiz Elahi said he did not know for how many days he would be in power but he would continue to serve the people. Senator Sania Nishtar said preventing corruption in the Ehsas programme was the biggest challenge but nepotism in data entry had been eliminated.

The record of every payment will be recorded through CCTV.

Chief Secretary Abdullah Sumbal said a coordinated and transparent aid mechanism had been established through collective efforts.

The CM formally launched the programme and gave relief funds to victims from Taunsa, Jampur, Kot Chhata, Rajanpur and Rojhan at a special bank counter.

Provincial Ministers Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Hasnain Bahadur Dreshak, Mohsin Leghari, Umar Sarfaraz Cheema, legislator Hafiz Ammar Yasir, PTI leader Jamshed Cheema, provincial secretaries and others were also present.

The CM also said during his address that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had gone to the flood victims, merely got photographed and returned. He said the premier was fond of the protocol.

“What is the use of your government if you don’t help the province or give it a good officer,” the chief minister added. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has approved a plan to treat breast cancer patients free of cost in Punjab in collaboration with a company.

He said while speaking to a delegation fro. the firm that centres of excellence would be established in major hospitals along with special counters in government hospitals for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2022.