SUKKUR, April 20: Federal Interior Minister Moinuddin Haiderhas said that the distribution of land to the landless haris of Sindh would begin soon and the statistics were being collected in this connection.

He was speaking at a public meeting at Lakhi Ghulam Shah, 20 km away from Sukkur, on Saturday.

He said that the construction of Sehwan barrage would be announced by Gen Pervez Musharraf after the referendum.

He added this would save Sindh from the draught-like position and the project would be completed within seven years at a cost of Rs42 billion.

He said the preliminary arrangements for the construction of the dam had been started and the senior officials of the government were working on the project at Islamabad.

He said that after the referendum, President Gen Perevz Musharraf would again start his tour to Sindh and the official announcement would be made by him during the tour.

He hoped that after the construction of the dam and the Reni canal, the water shortage in Sindh would be over and there would be plenty of water for the crops of Sindh.

He told the audience that 31 branches of Khushhali Banks had been established in the country, with the directive to advance loans to the poor and unemployed people.

Besides this, he said, Rs5 billion had been allocated for the poor people from the Zakat fund, and the officials of Zakat had been given directives to give Rs50,000 to each needy person.

He said that a comprehensive scheme had also been made for disbursing loans to haris on easy terms and the implementation of the scheme had started.

He also disclosed that President Musharraf had also talked to Prince Karim Agha Khan for establishment of a bank in Pakistan, which would boost the economy of our country.

He said that the Sindh government was asked to announce financial awards for the district governments from July 1 to enable them to carry on their development works.

He said that changes were being brought in the working of the bureaucracy on the pattern of police reforms, which would help the people in getting their works done quickly.

The interior minister also exhorted the people to participate in the referendum.

He directed the officials of the food department to purchase the wheat from the growers at the government rate of Rs300 per maund. He also asked the authorities of the Agriculture Banks not to be strict in the recovery of the loans, as there was draught-like situation in Sindh.