Lahorites donating generously
Besides various religious and political parties, NGOs and trade bodies, individuals have set up relief camps where people are depositing eatables, blankets, clothes and cash.
At the counters established by religious parties, volunteers are enlisting themselves as relief workers to perform duties in the affected areas.
The Jamaat-i-Islami will be carrying over 100 volunteers from Lahore (5,000 from across the Punjab) to Muzaffarabad in a couple of days while the first consignment of relief goods will be dispatched on Tuesday (today).
The Jamaat has also set up 36 collection centres in the city with a great response from the people as some philanthropists have promised a truckload of relief goods.
Jamaat officials say that dispatching of relief goods will continue on a daily basis.
The people are showing unprecedented enthusiasm in offering donations that in many localities they are depositing food items and blankets, clothes etc. in nearby mosques despite the fact no announcement has been made by mosque managements or prayer leaders.
Donations thus collected are being handed over to organizations/parties for their onward delivery to victims.
The PPP has set up one camp in northern Lahore which was inaugurated by party’s provincial president Qasim Zia on Monday.
The PML-N has established a camp at its Garden Town office and the ruling PML at the Muslim League House.
The Labour Party Pakistan has set up a camp at Regal Chowk on The Mall and announced that it will dispatch a truckload of relief goods worth Rs1 million to Rawalakot in Azad Kashmir on Tuesday (today).
Its Labour Relief Commission has also received immense response as expatriates and labour organizations in Sweden, France, Australia, Greece and Holland have announced donations for the quake victims.
The JUP claims it has set up 17 camps in the city at Gulberg Firdaus Market, Bedian Road, Shalamar Town, Ghoray Shah, Islampura, Baghbanpura, Wapda Town, Bund Road, Ghalla Mandi Kahna, Kot Lakhpat, Multan Road, Thokar Niaz Beg, Chuhng, Walton, Mian Mir Colony and Chah Miran.
The provincial social welfare department has also established counters, while different students’ organizations, including the Islami Jamiat Talaba and the Imamia Students Organization, can also be seen in various city localities.
Some students of educational institutions, like the Government Science College Wahdat Road, have been seen carrying boxes for collecting cash donations at bus-stops in the area.
The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee has dispatched its first consignment of relief goods to Muzaffarabad and Butgaram (Swat) where it is also making arrangements to establish camps for distributing relief goods to be received from world Sikh organizations.
Two teams of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association along with necessary medicines have reached Muzaffarabad and Abbotabad and made the Kashmir Surgical Hospital and Gilani Orthopaedic Hospital as their base camps for providing first aid to the victims.
The Jamaat Ahmadia Pakistan has announced Rs500,000 donation besides sending relief workers to the affected areas.
Faculty members, administrative staff and other employees of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences gave donations while students set up counters to collect eatables and clothes from the people for the quake victims.
The Defence Housing Authority, which had disallowed volunteers from collecting donations, has set up its own centre at Defence Stadium in L-Block of the locality.
DHA administrator Brig Fazal Nawaz Khan says they are ready to permit all registered organizations for engaging in the task.
The Punjab Civil Secretariat Employees Association (representing grade 1-16 employees) has announced one-day salary of its members towards the President’s Relief Fund.
The Lahore Press Club has also set up a relief camp and appealed to journalists to donate generously for the cause.
The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited has donated 300 tents, 1,100 blankets, 2,000 packets of eatables and Rs25 million in cash by getting two-day salary of its employees as donation for the quake victims.
The Pakistan Rangers have donated Rs4 million to the President’s Relief Fund.
In several localities, individuals are collecting and packing donations before delivering the same to the PTV station.
Meanwhile, apprehending misappropriations of donations by unregistered groups and individuals, the DCO has directed all tehsil municipal officers (TMOs) to ask them get registered with the city government within 24 hours.