This was stated by the chief minister (CM) during a meeting of the provincial government which reviewed flood losses, relief activities, distribution of Watan Cards and reconstruction.
The Punjab government will provide Rs10 billion for the Watan Cards programme from its own resources, according to the chief minister.
Regarding the province’s development funds, the CM said that funds for development projects under the annual development programme will be released in the first week of October.
He asked provincial ministers to take steps for curtailing non-development expenditure in their respective departments so that additional resources were available for the rehabilitation of flood victims.
Shahbaz Sharif added that so far the Punjab government had been concentrating on the rescue and relief of flood-hit people until a few weeks ago. Addressing the meeting, the CM said that after the rescue and relief phase, the Punjab government had now started implementing its reconstruction and rehabilitation programme, as part of which modern villages will be constructed for flood victims.
Sharif said that the construction of modern villages had been kicked off in Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh. Houses will be built in flood affected areas with the CM’s Relief Fund, which currently has donations amounting to more than Rs1 billion, instead of government funds.
He said that philanthropists and welfare organisations were helping the government in construction of model villages.
He praised the education secretary for saving Rs8 billion by rationalising resources in the Education Department and for starting educational activities in most of the 3,000 schools damaged by the floods. Sharif said that tuition fees of students in the flood-hit areas had been waived. The government will bear an expenditure of Rs300 million in this head, he added.
The chief minister said that the flood victims, returning to dilapidated homes, were in dire need of tents. The Punjab government had made arrangements to provide 20,000 tents in addition to the 50,000 provided earlier.
Earlier, the chief secretary, a senior member of the Board of Revenue and Planning and Development board chairman gave a detailed briefing on flood losses, relief activities, distribution of cash assistance and the reconstruction programme. The meeting was informed that the floods had affected millions of people, damaged 3,750 kilometres of roads and affected 3,000 schools, out of which 603 had been destroyed completely.
The meeting was informed that the restoration of infrastructure had been started and all the projects are being completed transparently.
Third-party audit has been adopted to ensure transparency. The CM thanked the legislators, administration and welfare organisations for taking an active part in the relief and rehabilitation of flood victims.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2010.
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