SIALKOT, Oct 13: The local business community has offered the federal and provincial governments to establish ‘tent villages’ in the city for the quake victims.
Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PSGMEA) chairman Arif Mehmood Sheikh made this offer during a meeting of the business community with Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here on Wednesday evening.
SCCI acting president Faisal Mehmood Khan, Sialkot Garrison Commander Maj-Gen Ashraf Saleem and heads of the other main trade bodies were also present in the meeting.
The PSGMEA chairman said the community would bear all expenditures till their complete rehabilitation, besides providing them with job opportunities.
On this occasion, the governor hailed the sentiments of the businessmen and assured them that the government would consider the offer.
Meanwhile, the SCCI has donated Rs100 million worth of relief goods.
Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association (SIMA) has donated Rs2 million for the victims. SIMA chairman Naeem Anwar Qureshi said the association had also donated as many as 5,000 disposable surgical kits.
The management of Sialkot International Airport Limited (SIAL) has donated Rs1 million and Pakistan Leather Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (North Zone) Rs3 million.
24 TRUCKS: The Pakistan army has dispatched as many as 24 trucks containing relief goods worth Rs6 million to the quake-hit areas.
Talking to the press here on Thursday, Garrison Commander Maj-Gen Ashraf Saleem said the army had established several relief camps in Shakargarh, Noor Kot, Phalora, Chawinda and Zafarwal which were functioning under the control of the Donation Cell and Central Relief Centre established at the Garrison Park, Sialkot Cantt.
New cantonment: The government has selected 3,000 acres of land in Pasrur tehsil for establishing a new cantonment and 160 acres of land for a Cadet college.
State Minister for Defence Zahid Hamid told journalists here on Thursday that the government would start acquiring the land by the end of the current year by purchasing the land.
He said President Gen Musharraf would inaugurate both the projects in December.
He said the project would cost Rs650 million.
He said the Punjab government has released a special grant of Rs160 million for the construction of 30-foot-wide Sialkot-Pasrur Road and the work on the project has started.
Mr Hamid said the government has approved the construction of a dyke over Nullah Dek near Zafarwal and allocated Rs70 million for the purpose.