LAHORE, Aug 30: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is confident that the row between the federal and provincial governments over distribution of flood aid will be resolved in the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting to be held shortly and there was no need to take the matter to any court of law.

“There will be no need to confront the federal government politically or take it to a court of law on relief aid distribution as the issue will hopefully be resolved in the CCI meeting,” he told Dawn during a visit to Multan and Muzaffargarh on Monday.

After reports that the federal government was thinking of bypassing the provincial authorities to directly deliver the aid, the chief minister had written a letter to the prime minister, the Council chairman, this Friday demanding convening of the CCI meeting.

Decisions at the CCI, comprising chief ministers of all the provinces and an equal number of members nominated by the prime minister, are taken on the basis of majority opinion.

Hoping to convince other CCI members of the ‘logical and legal’ demand of Punjab that the provinces should be taken on board in the disbursement of relief aid, Shahbaz Sharif said he had already talked to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti and he (Hoti) had supported his demand.

A meeting of the PML-N ruling Punjab had recently declared shelter as the immediate need of the flood victims and that at least Rs100,000 per family were required for the purpose.

As the federal government is delaying a decision on finalising modalities for disbursement of the relief funds, Punjab has decided to divert its resources to at least provide Rs20,000 to each affected family before Eid as ‘bridging finance’.

“It’ll be a temporary diversion and each penny of it will be deducted from the federal funds.”

Not solely relying on Islamabad for the provision of relief funds and goods, Lahore is also making efforts to seek direct supplies from donors. As Saudi Arab, Iran and Turkey, besides the World Health Organization and Unicef, are directly extending help to the province, Punjab is also holding a donor agencies’ conference on Wednesday (Sept 1) to urge them to donate more for saving the flood-stricken from epidemics and rehabilitating them.

The chief minister said except representatives of international donor agencies no envoy of any country would be invited to the conference.

He said 160 businessmen from Turkey, along with a heavy consignment of relief goods, were coming to celebrate Eid with flood victims in Punjab. Answering a question about security of the foreign visitors, he said foolproof arrangements were being made in this respect.

Shahbaz would not comment about Prime Minister Gilani’s statement that 80 per cent of relief aid provided through NGOs would be consumed by these bodies.

Asked if the existence of local governments could have eased the task of convincing the vulnerable population to leave for safer places to avert losses caused by flood, he said he did not deny the importance of local bodies.

However, he said the existence of previous local bodies could have multiplied the catastrophe thanks to the ‘corruption’ of nazims.

Asked why Punjab government was delaying accountability of “corrupt nazims”, he said some political forces as well as the previous judiciary had created hurdles in this regard. However, he said, now a transparent procedure was being followed to expose nazims’ corrupt practices and take the culprits to task.

Answering a question about phony organizations reportedly collecting relief funds, he said it was an important issue and that he had convened a meeting of the relevant departments to devise a policy in this respect.

Asked what mechanism he had devised to countercheck the relief and rehabilitation claims being made by the officials, the chief minister said elected representatives, intelligence departments and members of youth council were playing the role of a watchdog to safeguard public interest.

He said his own trips to the affected sites and direct interaction with the victims was another means of sifting grain from chaff. Shahbaz, however, has confidence in the civil administration and has been refusing to involve armed forces in distribution of the relief goods being procured by provincial government.

All praise for the services rendered by the army in the rescue operations and

provision of emergency supplies to the marooned people through its boats and high-platform trucks, he said as water was receding the civil administration could distribute the relief goods on its own.

About his flood-hit areas sojourns and the harsh criticism of the exercise by his political opponents, he said being provincial chief executive he considered it as his responsibility to personally hear grievances of those devastated by the worst calamity of the province’s history and ensure their reasonable care. He said he could not leave the victims at the mercy of the traditional system which was not delivering for the last many years.

Moreover, he said, the presence of provincial head among them gave the flood victims a new hope and prevented them from getting frustrated. He added that his ‘surprise raids’ also kept the administration and police at their toes.

Replying to a query about the reference sent to the Lahore High Court for judicial inquiry into alleged manipulation of breaches on Indus banks to save lands of the influential, he said the reference also included probe into poor construction of dykes and spurs by the previous government.

He hoped the judicial commission would be formed within a couple of days.

Asked if Punjab government could consider holding an all-party conference to form a joint strategy to cope with the disaster as the federal government was failing to act in this regard, he said only his party leadership could decide it. As a chief minister it would be inappropriate for him to host such an event against the federal government, he added.

Earlier, the chief minister visited different flood affected areas of Multan and Muzaffargarh and inspected relief activities being conducted by the Punjab government for the calamity-stricken people.

Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Muhammad Iqbal accompanied the chief minister.

The chief minister also presided over a high-level meeting in Multan to discuss provision of better healthcare facilities to the flood victims, besides visiting a tent village and medical camp set up at Rohilanwali. He also went to Kot Addu to review relief operation.

He said besides two installments of cash aid of Rs100,000, seed and fertilizers would be provided free of cost to the flood-hit cultivators having less than 25 acres of land.

He said to save the people from viral diseases one water filtration plant at each union council would be installed, while 100,000 mosquito nets would also be distributed for the prevention of malaria in these areas.

Presiding over a high-level meeting in Multan regarding rehabilitation of the flood victims, the chief minister said that responsibilities of the administration had increased in the wake of flood and the concerned secretaries and officers should stay in the calamity-hit areas.

He ordered the health officials to complete fumigation in the targeted areas within 48 hours.

He said that he would again hold a meeting in Multan on Sept 3 for reviewing the measures to check outbreak of viral diseases.He said that he would again hold a meeting in Multan on Sept 3 for reviewing the measures to check outbreak of viral diseases.