PESHAWAR, Aug 28: The city district council on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution which demanded of the provincial government to declare Peshawar calamity-hit.

It also urged the government to forgive the agricultural tax of the farmers in view of the torrential rain that has been lashing the city for the last two weeks.

The resolution was passed in an emergency session convened to debate the devastation caused by the heavy rainfall which has inundated the fields, destroying standing crops, and also razed to the ground many mud houses.

The councillors representing the worst-hit localities, including Shah Bala Ghari Sherdad, Yanaam Dheri and Kapoor Dheri, spoke at length about the losses the people incurred due to the continuous rain and demanded of the government to announce compensation for the affected people.

Speaking on the occasion, District Nazim Mohammad Azam Khan Afridi disclosed that the reconstruction of about 600 houses, that fall in the jurisdiction of five union councils and which were affected particularly badly by rain, would start next week for which the funds would be provided by the provincial government shortly.

Mr Afridi said the government was making all-out efforts to provide the much-needed assistance to the affected people on an emergency basis.

He said the government had already provided 680 tents, 1,500 flour bags and 1,500 bags containing food stuff to the affected people. The relief work, as announced by the NWFP governor, would also start next week.

Several Nazimeen and councillors pledged to extend every possible help to mitigate the suffering of the people.

They assured the district Nazim that they would contribute from their own pockets to the relief effort.