Sunday, 28 August, 2022 I 29 Muharram, 1444 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XIII No 59 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Distribution of rs38b begins to flooD victims in sinDh: Pm g
Rescue undeRway as Indus, Kabul RIveRs In veRy hIgh flood
ISLAMABAD
P
staff report
RIMe Minister Muhammad shehabaz sharif on saturday said that the federal government had allocated a grant of Rs38 billion to support each flood affected family with disbursement of Rs25,000. speaking to the flood affected people in sajawal, sindh, the prime minister said he had already announced a grant of Rs15 billion to sindh province while the distribution of flood relief amount among each family had commenced in sindh province after balochistan under benazir Income support Programme (bIsP). bIsP had the complete data, ensuring prompt and justified distribution among the deserving families, he added. assuring the provincial governments of the federal government’s support, the prime minister said others provinces would also be extended with such grants. The prime minister was accompanied by sindh chief Minister syed Murad ali shah, federal ministers and the relevant authorities.
he said with the support of national disaster Management authority and other relevant departments, the federal government continued to support the provincial governments in the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts. he said that a combined survey would be completed soon which would enable them to get an estimate of the damages and losses caused by floods across the country. he said in swat and Kalam, the flash floods had caused colossal losses as hotels had been swept away and scores of lives were lost. The prime minister also directed Minister for energy engineer Khurram dastagir Khan to supervise the efforts for restoration of power supply in the affected areas. RESCuE uNdERwAy AS INduS, KAbul RIVERS hIghly FloodEd: Pakistan witnessed another day of deaths and devastation on saturday as dozens of people were left dead and thousands stranded as a result of landslides and floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) amid “high to very high” floods in Kabul and Indus rivers. Meanwhile, a rain emergency remained in place in several areas of the province in
the wake of unprecedented rains that pushed most of the country into a crisis. death toll from floods, landslides in swat reaches 24 as 12 more killed while Peshawar corps evacuates 22 stranded people from Kumrat. KP cM’s helicopter was deployed to rescue stranded tourists, deliver food in isolated areas. evacuations were underway in several KP areas amid a ‘very high flood’ in nowshera, where the water level in the Kabul River has risen above 300,000 cusecs. 150 tourists were reported stranded in upper dir, Kalam and swat for the past three days. however, they were rescued later by army aviation helicopters. KP cM visits flood-affected areas in swat and lower dir, announces Rs1 billion for victims. at present, more than half of Pakistan is under water and millions of people have been rendered homeless as a result of flash flooding generated by abnormal monsoon rains which have entered their eighth spell with no signs of subsiding. according to the latest estimates, nearly 1,000 people, including 300 children, have lost their lives because of rains and resulting flooding that has impacted nearly 33 million people – almost 15 per cent of the country’s population. KP secretary of Information and Public Relations arshad Khan said that over 500,000 cusecs of water had flooded the province. “The government has started rescue and relief efforts in all affected areas, while the work on the restoration of road infrastructure is going on on an emergency basis,” he told media persons in swat, adding that 10 tonnes of rations were delivered so far. arshad also said that the helicopter used by KP cM had been deployed for the flood operations. “It will be used to rescue tourists stranded across the province and to provide food items to isolated areas.” Meanwhile, nowshera deputy commissioner (dc) Mir Reza ozgen renewed his call for the relocation of the district’s residents to safer places as flow in Kabul River rose above 300,000 cusecs, resulting in a “very high flood” in the water body.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
Coalition accuses PTI of trying to derail IMF deal ISLAMABAD staff report
Ruling Pakistan democratic Movement (PdM) coalition regretted that at a time when the country is faced with devastating floods, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has “refused” to meet one of the conditions set by the International Monetary fund (IMf) for its deal with Pakistan. accusing the KP government of politicising the matter, the parties, in their joint statement issued on saturday, said that in this connection the letter written by Taimur Khan Jhagra, the provincial finance minister, to Miftah Ismail, his federal counterpart, was a ploy to further deepen the financial crisis. “The PTI is well aware that the IMf board’s meeting, at which it is going to give a green signal to the restoration of its programme with Pakistan, is scheduled to be held on august 29. at this point, the act of writing a letter to the finance minister is based on a mala fide intent,” read the declaration. They went on to add that it was former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan who had signed an agreement with the IMf on tough conditions and then himself flouted it by suspending the programme. The purpose of doing all this was to turn the country financially bankrupt, they alleged. They said the reason why the coalition government was forced to take some difficult economic decisions was that it wanted to save the country from becoming bankrupt. and it was after the labour of four months that the government had at last succeeded in improving the Pakistani rupee’s value as well as the country’s economy, they claimed. They even put the blame for the present inflation in the country on what they called the former PTI government’s flawed economic policies. The coalition parties, in the declaration, however, renewed their pledge to foil all such moves by the PTI and resurrect the economy. The parties also expressed the resolve that all such tactics by the PTI would not distract them from focusing on mitigating the sufferings of flood-affected people.