July 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 01, 1428

QUETTA, July 16: The federal government has given a grant of Rs300 million to Balochistan for providing immediate relief to the flood victims in the province, according to provincial Home Secretary Tariq Ayub.

He was briefing journalists here on Monday. Recent rains and floods have badly affected people in 18 districts of the province.

The provincial government received the funds on Monday, which would enable it to start distributing compensation money from Tuesday, Mr Ayub said.

During his recent visit to Turbat, President Gen Pervez Musharraf had announced that Rs15,000 would be provided to each family whose house had been washed away in the calamity.

Mr Ayub said the process of rehabilitation would start after completion of a damage assessment survey, adding that aid money would be distributed after carefully examination of claims. “Relief distribution will be completely transparent,” Mr Ayub said, adding that the army, Frontier Corps and DCOs and nazims would supervise the process.

Terming the amount received insufficient, he said that more than 2.5 million people had been affected, adding that between 200,000 and 300,000 people had lost their houses. “We will ask Islamabad for more funds to provide immediate relief to everyone,” the home secretary said.

Referring to the death toll in the floods, he said at least 176 people had died while 195 people were still missing.

“There are reports according to which half a million cattle heads had been lost,” he said. He said that at least 363 irrigation schemes had been affected, out of which 54 had been repaired.

The Balochistan home secretary said that 636 electricity supply pylons had been destroyed, adding that except in a few areas, power supply had mostly been restored.

He said that roads had also been opened for traffic in the affected areas and 35 medical teams were providing medical help. “No epidemic had been reported from any of the affected areas, except Turbat,” he said.

Mr Ayub said that relief goods were also being sent to Marwar and other coal-mining areas. He said that the provincial government had so far received about 12,000 tents that had been distributed among the homeless. “We are getting 6,000 tents ordered by the Balochistan government daily from Punjab,” he said, adding that Islamabad would pay for 50,000 tents. He denied the impression that NGOs had been stopped from carrying out relief work.