KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday approved disbursement of compensation among the recent rain-affected people of 20 “calamity-hit” districts but the amount of the compensation would be decided by the cabinet.

He took this decision while presiding over a meeting to assess the losses/damages caused by recent heavy rains in the province.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Special Assistant to CM Haris Gazdar, Planning and Development Chairman M. Waseem, Sajid Jamal Abro, Qazi Shahid Parvez and others.

Briefing the chief minister, Mr Parvez said that the provincial government had already declared 20 districts as calamity-hit.

Murad okays plan to pay money through ATM cards to affected people in 20 calamity-hit districts

These include districts South, West, East, Central, Korangi and Malir in Karachi division; districts Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Jamshoro, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari and Dadu in Hyderabad division; districts Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar in Mirpurkhas division and districts Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar in Shaheed Benazirabad.

The meeting was informed that overall 1,752 dehs, 2,297,108 population, 1,499,411 acres of standing crops, 291,981 households, and 1,292,643 houses were damaged in the recent rains.

The chief minister was given a district-wise presentation on the losses/damages of the 2020 monsoon.

It was pointed out that heavy rains claimed 149 lives, injured 103 persons, and resulted in deaths of 19,858 animals, including cows, buffalos, horses, goats, sheep and donkeys.

Says rains caused Rs8bn losses

The chief minister said that there were losses worth Rs8 billion and added that his government would give compensation to the poor affected people across the province to rehabilitate them.

He discussed different rates for different losses and, in principle, approved to disburse the amount but the matter would be placed before the cabinet for final approval.

Ensuring transparency, the chief minister said that the amount would be disbursed through ATM cards as per different categories such as deaths, injured, damaged houses and perished cattle through ATM cards.

He directed the chief secretary to talk to the Sindh Bank and work out a detailed plan for issuance of ATM cards at the earliest.

“The beneficiaries must have a CNIC and the cards would be verified from NADRA before disbursement of the compensation,” he added.

Meanwhile, he directed Mr Parvez to verify the list of the affected people, houses, cattle, deaths and injured persons for finalisation of their claims.

Mr Shah said that when the cash would be transferred to the affected people they would receive a SMS on their mobile phone.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2020