PESHAWAR, Nov 23: The NWFP government will provide 2,000 kanals of land to the Al-Khair Trust in Garhi Habibullah town for construction of houses for earthquake-affected people. The trust, a relief organization of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), will build 1,000 houses in the town devastated by the Oct 8 quake.

The decision to provide land to the trust was made in a meeting of the provincial cabinet held here on Wednesday with Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani in the chair.

The houses would be allotted to orphans, widows and other deserving people of the town and the trust would ensure provision of civic amenities to the houses, the cabinet was told.

The cabinet decided to construct an earthquake-resistant model city in Balakot before summer.

The chief minister told the cabinet that the government wanted to initially rehabilitate tourist spots in the area to generate economic activities for the affected people.

The government would provide designs for all construction so that future construction could be earthquake-resistant, he said.

The cabinet noted ‘marked acceleration’ in relief activities and supply of essential commodities in the affected areas.

It recommended to the federal government to hand over to the provincial government medical equipment being left out by foreign relief teams in the quake-hit areas of the province.

The cabinet noted that provision of the latest equipment would help rehabilitate health infrastructure in the quake-hit zone.

It endorsed provision of monthly stipend to the heads of affected families to help them get items of daily use.

The chief minister informed the cabinet that he had asked the federal government to deploy 50 platoons of the Frontier Constabulary for the safety of foreign teams involved in relief activities in affected areas.

The cabinet asked the DCOs to complete survey of damage caused by the quake in their districts and submit a report to the provincial government.

The meeting reviewed relief and other activities in the tent villages and agreed to set up more tent villages for the affected people.

The cabinet was briefed about law and order situation in the province with a particular reference to the five quake-stricken districts.

It approved purchase of vehicles for police and asked police to bring further improvement in law and order situation in Peshawar and other areas.