Helping hands: IDPs to be provided with vocational training says Shahbaz

Solar-powered tubewells will also be distributed, says the chief minister.

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that assisting the displaced population of North Waziristan was the collective responsibility of society. Sharif was presiding over a meeting convened to review the distribution of financial assistance among the IDPs.

He said that the government had established the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the IDPs and contributed Rs500 million towards it.

Sharif said that assistance worth Rs7,000 per family was being provided to the IDPs in the first phase. He said that financial assistance to the IDPs would be provided in a timely and transparent fashion. The chief minister said that the government would ensure that the displaced persons were rehabilitated.



Sharif said that he would not tolerate any negligence in the provision of financial assistance to the IDPs. He expressed displeasure over the delay in finalising distribution channels of financial assistance due to the paucity of authentic data. The chief minister ordered that the process to be completed on a priority basis.

He said that steps would be taken to provide the displaced persons with vocational training and solar powered tube wells.

Sharif said a committee had been constituted to monitor the distribution of financial assistance among the IDPs. Minister for Finance Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman would be the co-chairman of the committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2014.