KARACHI, June 26: Four federal ministers belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement have urged Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to announce a Rs1 billion grant on emergency grounds to provide compensation for losses of lives and damage caused by Saturday’s storm and torrential rain.

The call was made at a meeting held at the residence of Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri, where the ministers discussed the situation in Karachi and other areas of Sindh.

Minister of State for Religious Affairs Dr Aamer Liaquat Hussain told newsmen that he himself, Syed Safwanullah and Shamim Siddiqui were carrying out relief work in the rain-affected localities and, therefore, they would not be able to attend the federal cabinet’s meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

The ministers also discussed the electricity crisis and decided to urge the federal government to pay the bills on behalf of the people of Karachi for June.

They said the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation had put its consumers in severe distress.

The ministers proposed immediate cancellation of the KESC’s privatisation deal and urged the government to take action against officials controlling the utility.

The meeting decided that MQM’s lawmakers would request the prime minister to increase development funds for the repair and restoration of the infrastructure damaged by rains.