LAHORE, Oct 9: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has directed the provincial administration to take active part in the federal government’s rehabilitation efforts for quake victims.
He was talking to Chief Secretary Salman Siddique by phone from London, says a handout.
The chief minister said that destruction on a large scale had occurred in Azad Kashmir and NWFP and it was the responsibility of the people of the Punjab and provincial government to extend full assistance to their brethren.
He directed the administration to establish relief centres at district level throughout the province to ensure maximum participation of people in relief activities.
He said that relief centres headed by the concerned DCOs would be supervised by the provincial ministers of respective areas.
MEETING: A meeting held under the chairmanship of the chief secretary reviewed the assistance extended to the affected so far and proposals were finalised for their rehabilitation.
The chief secretary asked the officers present in the meeting to discharge their responsibilities considering it a national obligation. Additional chief secretary Hasan Waseem Afzal, provincial secretaries, board of revenue members, relief commissioner and high-ranking officers were also present in the meeting.
The meeting was informed that two trucks containing 350 tents, 500 blankets and 950 unstitched tents besides other relief items had been sent to Azad Kashmir.
The health secretary told the meeting that the injured from NWFP and Azad Kashmir were being brought to Murree in ambulances from where they were being shifted to Rawalpindi.
He said for this purpose 25 ambulances along with staff had been deputed by the Punjab government.
He said that 700 beds had been made available in various government hospitals at the provincial metropolis.
Meanwhile, a number of departments of the Punjab government remained opened on Sunday in order to give practical shape to the relief measures.
The Punjab government has already cancelled the leaves of its officers in the food, home and health departments.
