PESHAWAR, June 18: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Monday approved a flood relief and risk mitigation plan, targeting 192,000 families in areas with higher threats of getting affected by flooding in the upcoming monsoon.

Provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told a news conference here that the government had specified a sum of Rs1.25 billion for carrying out relief activities and rehabilitating the affected families in the post-flood period.

“Based on information provided by the Met Office, we are expecting mild floods in high-risk zones where communities are likely to be affected and might need temporary shelters in an event of getting displaced,” he said.

The minister said the provincial government had a stock of 11,745 tents and some 10,000 tents were available in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ stocks that could be used in time of need.

“We have made plans for procuring 30,000 additional tents to provide temporary housing in case the need arises in an event of a greater part of population getting displaced due to floods,” he said.

Mr Iftikhar, however, said it was being expected that the upcoming flooding season would be comparatively less intense and devastating in nature compared to floods of 2010 that caused a large scale displacement in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to the Met Office’s weather forecast, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is expected to receive normal monsoon rains in the upcoming season.

However, seasonal water courses and ravines, with history of flooding, are expected to overflow for multiple reasons.

The minister said the government had distributed Rs125 million among 25 districts governments for meeting their expenditure vis-à-vis relief activities in the next flood season.

Besides, he said, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), too, has Rs100 million for extending relief to the affected families in case of flooding.

Mr Iftikhar said PDMA would be linked with all districts through their district coordination officers to act promptly in case the situation warranted if flood hit any of the districts.

He said an ‘Emergency Relief Operations Centre’ had been set up at the PDMA headquarters in Peshawar at the cost of Rs35 million, while funds for setting up the facility had been provided by foreign donors.

The minister said provincial Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti inaugurated the new facility, which would initially be directly linked with 10 districts categorised as high-risk zones, including Kohistan, Swat, Charsadda, Nowshera, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Swabi and Shangla.

He said the flood relief plan approved by the cabinet sought efficient coordination among the provincial government’s line departments.

Mr Iftikhar further said every department had been assigned roles in compliance with which they were required to act promptly, providing relief to the communities in case they were affected by floods.

“DCO office, in every district, will act as the focal point from where information would be fed to PDMA headquarters for coordinated efforts,” he said, adding that it would help avoid duplication and a well coordinated relief operation as PDMA will move the relevant department, including health, food, education, police etc, for the required action.

According to him, the cabinet also decided to effectively use the provincial information department for flood management.

“The district based information officers would work at DCO offices from where they would pass on the information to the provincial information department for its onward dissemination through Radio Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Radio Pakistan, and electronic media, informing the communities about the danger posed by the likely floods.

“The centralised flow of information will help thwart the spread of rumors, avoiding panic among the communities at risk of floods,” he said.

The minister said PDMA would establish contacts with UNHCR, World Food Programme, and other international non-governmental organisations to coordinate relief activities, avoiding duplication of work and making best use of the resources available for extending relief.

“None of the non-governmental organisations would be allowed to carry out relief activities in the affected areas without getting ‘No Objection Certificates’ from the DCO concerned. This measure has been deemed necessary to avoid the involvement of unwanted organisations and individuals with suspicious track record,” he said.

When asked that the provincial government would be willing to get help from Jamaatud Dawaa in the flood-affected areas, the minister evaded the answer with a smile.

Earlier, he told the news conference that only the legal NGOs that were registered with the social welfare department would be allowed to carry out relief activities after getting NOC from the DCO office.

He said the relevant authorities had been directed to collect information of all those NGOs, with details of their areas of specialty, who were involved in the 2010 flood relief operation.

Mr Iftikhar said the provincial cabinet also approved the launch of an extensive anti-encroachment drive across the province after the coming flood season to remove illegal structures from the riverbanks and canal embankments.

“It is a tricky subject as it involves political backlash, a lot of bickering between the line departments, and hindrances by people with vested interest, so the plan to remove the encroachments has been put on hold for a while,” said the minister.