22 January 2004	Thursday	29 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 21: Sindh chief minister Sardar Ali Mohammad Mahar on Wednesday presided over a meeting of the provincial relief committee to review the steps being taken by the Sindh government for the relief and rehabilitation of the people affected by heavy monsoon rains in lower Sindh.

Speaking at the meeting held at the committee room of the Sindh secretariat, the chief minister said the Thatta and Badin districts had been badly affected by heavy monsoon rains. He added that the rains also played havoc in Tharparkar, Hyderabad, Dadu and many other districts, where a large number of people suffered life and property losses.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the performance of various district relief committees, the chief minister said all available resources should be employed to provide relief to those affected by the rains.

He expressed displeasure over non-payment of compensation to rain victims' families and ordered that the compensation amount be released within three days. The chief minister said Rs10 million be released for Badin, and Rs7.5 million each for the Thatta, Tharparker and Hyderabad districts.

He said the funds must be distributed among the affected people at the earliest, adding that the phase of financial assistance for rebuilding of houses must be completed within three months. He directed the finance department to release the funds on an urgent basis.

The meeting decided that donor agencies would be approached for the rehabilitation of the infrastructure damaged in the rains. The meeting urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to grant more funds for the rehabilitation of the rain affected people in Sindh.

It was decided that ministers and advisers would monitor distribution of compensation cheques to victims' families and rebuilding of houses. The chief minister said he would pay surprise visits to rain- affected districts to inspect rehabilitation and resettlement work. He added that he would shortly convene a meeting of district relief committees' chairmen to take final decisions in this regard.

The meeting decided that the provincial adviser, Ali Akbar Nizamani, would serve as chairman of the district relief committee, Badin, following the resignation of the committee's former chairman.

The meeting was informed that quite often district coordination officers (DCOs) and executive district officers (EDOs) were not found present during visits of ministers to the interior of Sindh. Taking notice of this complaint, the chief minister said ministers and advisers would pay surprise visits to the departments of these officials, and if found absent from work without any reason, action should be taken against them.

The additional chief secretary of the development department said Rs3.6 billion was needed for the rehabilitation of the infrastructure in rain-hit areas.

The senior member of the Board of Revenue, Manzoor Hussain Bhutto, said monsoon rains had claimed 182 lives. He added that 152 victims had been paid compensation and families of remaining 30 victims would be paid compensation in the next three days.

He said a survey of 204,215 houses damaged in the rains in seven districts of Sindh had been completed. He added that over Rs820 million would be needed for the reconstruction of these houses.

He said Rs148 million, released by the finance department, had already been given to rain-affected districts. Senior finance minister Syed Sardar Ahmed, law minister Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed, local government adviser Waseem Akhtar, minister for works and services Arbab Ghulam Rahim, minister for power and irrigation, Pir Sadruddin Shah, minister for zakat and Auqaf Dr Irfan Gul Magsi, minister for livestock and fisheries Mir Manzoor Panhwar, minister for women development Dr Saeeda Malik, minister for mines and mineral development Haji Usman Malkani, minister for interprovincial coordination Nadir Akmal Leghari, advisor on home affairs Aftab Ahmed Shaikh, representative of the Headquarters Corps-5 Major-Gen Arif and others attended the meeting.-PPI