RAJANPUR, July 29: Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has announced Rs750 million for the construction of almost 30,000 houses flattened by the recent floods across the province.

The federal government would provide Rs350 million while the provincial government would share the remaining amount, he told a big gathering of people from flood-hit areas at the Farid Airbase here on Friday.

He said 25,000 atta bags had been distributed among the affected people and Rs2.5 million provided to the heirs of those who lost their lives.

The chief minister declared several villages in Rajanpur, Jampur and Rojhan calamity hit and exempted them from payment of agricultural and other taxes.

The chief minister said these announcements were to be made by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, but he had to defer his visit to Rajanpur owing to bad weather.

He said the prime minister had directed the Agriculture Development Bank not to recover mark-up on agriculture loans in the calamity-hit areas. The recovery of loans had been postponed for a year. — Correspondent