K-P’s losses stand at Rs2 trillion: minister

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has suffered losses worth Rs2 trillion in the wake of this monsoon’s devastating floods, provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Friday.

Briefing newsmen, he said that Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has participated in the war on terror with full honesty – and if the province is not given its due share, then it is bound to affect the war on terror.

Mian Iftikhar said that the provincial government would soon release Rs400,000 for each owner of destroyed houses, while those whose houses were partially damaged would get Rs160,000 in compensation. The chief minister, he said, has approved this.

So far, he said, the government had confirmed the deaths of 1,010 people in the province. Some 968 people had been reported injured. The number of homeless, he said, currently stands at 890,256.

The provincial government spokesman said that 581 villages and 105,214 houses were destroyed in the floods, while 68,080 homes had been partially damaged. The number of shops destroyed stood at 500 while 522 educational institutions, 283 roads, 278 bridges and 133 health centers were also destroyed.

He said that teams will be made up from a pool of 800 people to assess the losses incurred during the floods in the province.

He said that the provincial government had called a conference today to take all parties into confidence. It will be presided over by the K-P Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti.

All presidents and general-secretaries and parliamentary leaders of the assembly have been issued invitations, Mian Iftikhar said.

After a briefing session, he said, the political leaders of the province will give their suggestions to the government.

The provincial government, said the information minister, will decide its future course of action in view of these suggestions and also take up the province’s case with federal government in light of these proposals.

He said that the flood was a calamity and the situation should not be politicised.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2010.