HYDERABAD, Feb 20: Five million rupees have been given to the district Nazim for undertaking relief measures in the rain- devastated Hyderabad and, in addition to this, Rs100,000 would be paid to the families of the victims of various rain-related incidents.

This was announced by the Sindh Minister for Revenue, Altaf Unnar, while talking at the local press club on Thursday.

During his visit to the city, the minister said, he was shocked to see many areas of the city totally submerged under the rainwater.

Expressing his satisfaction over the efforts to drain out the water from the city, Mr Unnar said that the WASA, DDOs and the district Nazim were doing everything possible in this regard.

He said that eight new pumps had been purchased and 10 more pumps were in the pipeline to help the drainage effort.

Currently, he said, 77 pumps were working 24 hours a day in various localities to dispose off the rainwater.

Elaborating upon the financial help given to the district administration for rain relief efforts, he said that Rs20,000 would also be paid for every house destroyed in the rains, adding that Rs10,000 each would be paid to those whose houses had been damaged.

Referring to the marriage of a young girl, whose dowry was lost after their house on Hali Road collapsed in the recent rains, he said that he would personally deliver Rs50,000 to her family immediately. The girl’s marriage ceremony was to be held on Thursday.

He said that a survey would be carried out soon to assess the extent of losses, adding that the DDOs had been instructed in this regard.

Referring to the drought in Thar, the senior member of the Board of Revenue, Manzoor Bhutto, said that for the first time, a presidential grant amounting to a billion rupees had been given to the drought-hit area

Roads, Mr Bhutto added, had been constructed in the Thar under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme.

The district Nazim, Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, on this occasion, told the newsmen that anti-malaria spray would be carried out in the city as soon as the water had been drained out to contain the threat of the disease.

Prominent among those, who were also present on this occasion, were the DCO, Mukhtar Ahmed Aziz, and the managing director of the WASA, Tahir Ahmed.