PESHAWAR: Provincial govt seeks Rs22bn for disaster plan
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Aug 16: The NWFP government has sought Rs22 billion from Islamabad to execute its disaster plan, minimising losses of life and property caused by natural calamities every year in the province.
Briefing journalists here at the Media Centre after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, NWFP Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai observed that disaster control and management needed a separate ministry, because it was a full time job. The government and private sector had suffered a loss of Rs1025.995 million owing to floods caused by monsoon rains in Mardan, Malakand, Lower Dir, Swat and Mansehra districts, he added.
He said the chief minister had made some changes in the Relief Act and enhanced compensation for the flood affected people. He said heir of a dead and injured were respectively paid Rs100,000, and Rs50,000. He said heirs of 202 out of 210 dead had been paid compensation.
The four dead, in Lower Dir, were identified as Afghan national.
He said 210 people were dead and 158 others were injured in flood-hit districts. About 21,977 houses were either fully or partly damaged. He said 167 water-supply schemes, 76 bridges and 335 link roads were damaged in flood-hit areas. Mr Daudzai said the cabinet had approved Rs50,000 and Rs25,000, for the completely and partly damaged houses, respectively.
About loss of livestock, he said the cabinet had approved Rs10,000 for cows and buffaloes and Rs3,000 for goats and sheep. The government had estimated a loss of Rs2 billion, caused by rains, floods and landslides in the affected areas of the province, he said.
Besides edible items, the NWFP government had provided tents, blankets and clothes to the affected people. He said the cabinet had requested the federal government to share the burden with the NWFP government.
He said the cabinet had agreed that the encroachments on banks of canals, sewerage and irrigation channels were the main cause of floods in affected towns and cities.
He said the cabinet had decided to purchase machinery for every district to clear of floodwater from low lying city areas.
He said the government had released Rs50 million for the early construction of bridges, Rs50 million for roads constructions, Rs30m for heavy machineries and Rs30m to districts for the purchase machines to pump out stagnant rain water.
The minister said the cabinet had expressed its dissatisfaction over slow pace of road construction from Malakand to Chitral and asked the federal government to get it completed within shortest possible time.
