LARKANA, Nov 25: The federal government had released Rs400 million for the incomplete schemes of the Drought Emergency Relief Assistance (Dera) programme in Sindh, said District Nazim Khursheed Junejo.

He told this correspondent here on Tuesday that the Sindh planning and development department had received the first tranche of the funds.

He said that the provincial steering committee, at its meeting on Nov 19, decided to release the funds to the districts where the Dera schemes had been initiated, in line with the share of each district.

The funds would be utilized for the schemes approved by relevant forums including the national steering committee, sources in the district planning department said.

The share of different districts stands as Tharparkar Rs15.117 million, Sanghar Rs67.168 million, Thatta Rs71.561 million, Dadu Rs39.841 million, Jacobabad Rs66.714 million, Badin Rs 16.526 million, Mirpurkhas Rs22.811 million, Larkana Rs23.705 million, Shikarpur Rs16.909 million, Sukkur Rs14.424 million, Khairpur Rs20.951 million and Ghotki Rs24.273.

The finance department was asked to release funds to the district governments in seven days, the sources said.

Ghulam Mustafa Soomro, district planning officer planning, said that under the Dera programme, the district development working party had approved different schemes of roads, water supply, drainage, veterinary hospitals and health facilities at a cost of Rs122.5 million.