LAHORE: Ministerial Disaster Management Committee chairman Basharat Raja says every flood-affected family will resettle in its home soon.
The reconstruction work of the houses will start as soon as the water recedes. Punjab received 364mm of rain this year, which was 85 per cent more than normal.
Speaking at a news conference at the DGPR offices on Thursday, Raja claimed that pre-monsoon flood warnings and all necessary preparations were made by the departments concerned but those did not prove to be effective against unprecedented heavy rains.
Raja, who is also provincial minister for cooperatives, environmental protection and parliamentary affairs, said 188 deaths occurred as a result of rains and floods in the province. He said 3,256 people were injured and 25,315 houses were damaged. He said Rajanpur, DG Khan and Mianwali were the worst affected districts.
He said 644,339 people were affected by rains and floods while more than 200,000 cattle perished. “The flood-affected parts have already been declared calamity-hit areas,” he said. At present, he said, the relief work was in final stages and the most crucial phase of rehabilitation would begin soon.
He said the chief minister had approved a relief package which included compensation of Rs1 million for the next of kin of each deceased person. Earlier, aid was not given for the construction of kacha houses but this time round the government would provide aid for the reconstruction of such dwellings.
Meanwhile, health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said global warming and series of endless rains had hit 346 villages in DG Khan, 176 villages in Rajanpur and 16 villages in Mianwali. She said the Punjab government was providing all possible assistance to the flood victims. Some 1.120 million acres of land had been affected by the floods, she said.
She said more than 2.016 million people had received free treatment through the sehat sahulat card.
Speaking at a press conference at the DGPR offices, Dr Rashid, who is also the PTI central Punjab president, said the party’s central Punjab had sent 22 trucks of relief goods for the flood victims. In the next two days, she said, a conference would be called for all the NGOs providing aid in the flood-affected areas.
She said PTI chairman Imran Khan received Rs5.5 billion for the relief of the flood-stricken families through a telethon within a few hours. She stressed that more and more people should contribute to the fund to help begin the process of rehabilitation of the affected families.
She said the limit of Rs1 million of health card would be increased in case of any emergency. In Punjab, she said, 816 government and private hospitals had been empanelled for the card. More than 83,700 beds had been increased in these private and government hospitals for patients in Punjab.
She claimed that 97 per cent of people in Punjab had expressed satisfaction about the health facility.
MOTION: A privilege motion was submitted to the Punjab Assembly on Thursday against a department head of the Lahore College for Women University for `harassing’ students.
MPA Kanwal Pervaiz Chaudhry said because of the strict attitude of the HoD, a final year student had tried to commit suicide and her condition was stated to be critical.
The lawmaker further said the head also harassed the Mphil and PHD students. She demanded the House to take notice of the issue.
Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2022
