Remembering the affected: 30 houses provided for flood affected

20 women also get sewing machines.

MULTAN:

Aashiq Hussain, 54, had lost all his land and cattle in the 2010 floods. Having survived on temporarily sources of income and a rented house in Kot Addu since then, Friday brought good news for Hussain.

His name was drawn for a six-marla house in the Bahria Town model village constructed in 2011.

Keys of 30 houses were distributed among flood victims by the Baharia Town administration in Kot Addu on Friday. The keys were distributed by an open ballot among 103 families in the Muzaffargarh district.

The ceremony was presided over by Baharia Town chief executive Malik Riaz.

This was the third and the last in the series of distribution of 143 houses constructed in the model village.

Executive Director Gen (retired) Muhammad Yaseen told The Express Tribune that all houses had electricity and gas supplies. The value of each of these houses was Rs1.5 million.

The model village constructed specially for those who had lost their homes in the 2010 floods contains mosques, a religious seminary for 100 students, a dispensary, an eight-bed hospital, a sewing centre and underground sewerage system.

Rasheeda Bibi, 60, a beneficiary, said she could not believe her ears on hearing her name being announced for the house.

She said she still remembered the day helplessly seeing her house being taken away by the floods.

Gen (retired) Yaseen said the model village had a separate security system linked with under ground security wires. He said 250 students had been enrolled in the school.

Empowering women

Twenty sewing machines were also distributed among working women. Over 50 women, who had been trained at the sewing centre, will also be trained to open micro sewing training institutes in future. The sewing machines were distributed by the Begum Akhtar Rukhsana Memorial Trust. Gen (retired) Yaseen said selected women from the centre will also be taught football sewing. He said this will give way to self reliance among these women.

Fatima Bibi, one of the beneficiaries at the sewing centre, said she was uneducated. She said after being trained at the centre, she now earned Rs6,000 every month by stitching women’s clothes.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2013.