QUETTA, Nov 21: The additional chief secretary (development) of Balochistan has said that the government has allocated Rs3.91 billion for the drought-hit areas and claimed that the government has succeeded in minimizing the effects of drought in many areas of the province.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Nadir Ali said that 26 small water reservoirs had been completed, 500 water channels had been extended and improved, and 32,000 acres of depleted range land had been rehabilitated in 15 districts during the 1998-2003 drought period.

Rejecting opposition parties' allegations that the government did not take steps to help the drought victims, he said that government's reports and figures were technical and based on ground realities whereas the political groups' perception was non-technical.

He said the government determined emergency relief, mid- and long-term plans to meet the drought situation and 16,000 million tons of food and Rs50 million worth of medicines were distributed among the drought victims. He said 35 camps were established and 4.6 million animals were treated.

He said the steps taken by the government included improvement of water resources, rehabilitation of range land, provision of potable water, distribution of improved wheat seed, construction of small dams, installation of 1,215 tube wells, enhancement of accessibility by constructing of 1,264 kilometres of shingle and black-top road.

The official said that in the drought emergency recovery assistance (Dera) 102 schemes in the departments of irrigation, public health engineering, communications & works and agriculture were completed.

He claimed that groundwater level was improving due to delay-action dams, sustainable water for agriculture and livestock was developing, conventional irrigation system was improving and potable water was made available through wind mills.

He said that in the prime minister's special drought package all MPAs were granted Rs10 million each for development projects in the drought-hit areas. Mr Ali, while rejecting the charges of corruption in the drought funds, claimed that the federal government had formed a monitoring team and if there were any embezzlements, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank would have stopped funding.