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| November 1, 2005 | Tuesday | Ramzan 27, 1426 |
Punjab cabinet okays emergency service act
LAHORE, Oct 31: The Punjab cabinet on Monday approved the “Punjab Emergency Service Act-2005”, which will be tabled in the next session of the provincial assembly. The Act aims at establishing a special body to cope with emergencies caused by road accidents, building collapses, explosions and blazes.
The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi also made important decisions regarding the setting up of a tent city and rehabilitation of displaced quake victims coming to the Punjab.
The chief minister informed the cabinet members about relief measures taken by the Punjab government. He said the provincial government had so far spent some Rs1.62 billion on providing relief goods to the affected people.
He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf, the NWFP chief minister, the Azad Kashmir president and the prime minister had also commended the relief-related performance of the Punjab government.
Giving details of the Support A Family programme, Mr Elahi reiterated that a large number of philanthropists had contacted him to take part in the initiative. He said it was heartening to note that the number of such people was increasing day by day.
In view of this encouraging response, he said, the government had decided to immediately open an account of the programme with National Bank. He said all donations could be deposited in this account.
At this occasion, all cabinet members as well as provincial advisors announced that each of them would support an affected family. Mr Elahi had already announced to support five such families while launching the programme.
The cabinet decided that each of its member would visit the calamity-stricken areas one-by-one and would submit their reports to the Punjab government regarding needs of the quake-hit people.
Each cabinet member will also take along relief items for the victims.
The meeting decided that food minister Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, education minister Mian Imran Masood, communication and works minister Chaudhry Zaheer-ud-Din, and health minister Dr Tahir Javaid would represent the Punjab government by celebrating Eid with the quake-affected people.
The meeting was informed that the chief minister’s helicopter shifted 350 injured persons to various hospitals from far-flung areas of the NWFP.
The meeting also lauded the services of Punjab health department for provision of doctors and medical facilities in the quake-hit areas.
While briefing the meeting, the Board of Revenue senior member said as many as 6,068 truckloads of relief goods had so far been sent to the quake-hit areas in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP on behalf of the Punjab government.
Giving the details of relief goods, the member said 2,166 trucks transported quilts and blankets, 445 trucks carried tents and 378 trucks carried drugs to the affected areas.
Besides relief goods and cash donations, the BoR member said, the Punjab had also provided manpower for the rehabilitation of the affected people. Currently, he said, some 800 police officials from Punjab were performing duties in the affected areas.
In order to establish makeshift schools and hospitals, he said the Kuwait government had been asked to supply 65 large tents, measuring 3,000 square feet.
Discussing the Punjab Emergency Act, the chief minister lamented that the system, which the present government inherited to cope with the incidents of fire, explosions and accidents etc, was almost worn out.
He said the government devised a phase-wise programme to protect the citizen’s life and property. In this connection, he lauded the services rendered by the Punjab Emergency and Ambulance Service (PEAS) ‘Rescue 1122’, launched as a pilot project in Lahore.
The chief minister said the decision to run PEAS as an independent project and its separation from hospitals had proved very successful. Such projects would also be implemented in other cities as well, he said. Many hospitals’ ambulances were being used for transportation of household goods and as conveyance for school-going children, he added.
He directed the administration to immediately procure modern gadgets used to trace out the persons trapped under the debris in case of quake and other calamities.
The cabinet also offered Fateha for the victims of the earthquake.
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