MANSEHRA, Dec 5: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday said the government had prepared a comprehensive plan to provide assistance and rebuild infrastructure and houses in the quake-affected areas of the NWFP and Azad Kashmir. Addressing the affected people during a visit to a tent village in Bakarial, some 20 kilometres from Mansehra, the prime minister assured victims of the earthquake that the government would provide them the best possible facilities and help them resume their normal activities.

“The government is making sincere efforts to provide shelter to each and every affected person. Besides construction of shelters, the government has been establishing tent villages near the mountains, to provide shelter to the affected people,” Mr Aziz said.

He said the government was also providing schools, dispensaries and other basic needs of life to people living in the tent villages.

The prime minister was accompanied by National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, Health Minister Nasir Khan, federal lawmaker and coordinator of the National Assembly’s earthquake relief committee Ms Kashmala Tariq.

On his arrival at the tent village, the prime minister was received by acting provincial governor Chief Justice Tariq Pervez, Chief Minister Akram Durrani, Mansehra Nazim Sardar Yousaf and other elected representatives and military officials.

Mr Aziz unveiled a plaque to formally inaugurate the tent village. The deputy relief commissioner in the NWFP, Ulfat Hussain, briefed the prime minister about the tent village.

Some 250 tents have been pitched in Bakarial for the quake-ravaged families, Mr Hussain said. These tents are weather-proof and covered with special sheets to provide protection to people from the cold.

The quake victims will receive clean drinking water and medical care in the tent village. Bakarial also has its own school.

He was informed that 500 tents and 2,000 blankets had been provided by Ms Kashmala, who collected these items as coordinator of the National Assembly earthquake relief committee, and the UNHCR.

He lauded the role of the army said it was due to untiring efforts of the military that the government had been able to provide relief to each and every victim in the quake-hit areas.—APP