Shahbaz Sharif visits flood hit areas

Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif today visited flood affected villages in Rajanpur, DG Khan and Rojhan in Southern Punjab as well as inspected relief camps set up in the area. He also addressed the calamity-stricken people at a number of places.

The Chief Minister said that he will not rest content until the flood affectees were rehabilitated and the losses to crops and houses had been made up. He said that against the advice of his doctor, he has come to the flood-affected areas to express solidarity with the distressed people. He said that though his visit has been delayed due to illness but during all this period, his heart has been beating in unison with the flood affectees and he has not been oblivious to their sufferings.

He said that he has been directly monitoring the operation for the relief and rehabilitation of the flood-hit people. Announcing financial assistance of five lakh rupees each for the families of those who lost their lives in the flood, he said that the assessment of the damages due to flood has been started and he will soon visit this area again to give cheques of financial assistance to the calamity-stricken people. He said that the houses damaged due to flood will also be reconstructed at the government expenses while bulldozers, fertilizers and free seeds will be given to the affectees for the next crop.

He said that the flood affectees will be provided all out help and assistance on the pattern of 2010 flood. He further announced that blankets, quilts and beds will also be given to the flood-hit people by the government before the onset of winter season. The calamity-stricken people thanked the Chief Minister for sending teams of secretary and senior officers to the area immediately after flood. Media-men at Rojhan demanded of the Chief Minister to issue commendatory certificates to district administration officers for working round the clock for relief activities for the calamity-hit people.

At a briefing at Rojhan, the Chief Minister was given the details of damages due to flood. He was informed that 226 villages, 8870 houses and crops over 93 thousand acres of land have been damaged. According to the details of relief activities initiated on the instructions of Chief Minister, 193 trucks of relief items have so far been distributed in the flood-affected areas. Similarly, 10386 persons have been shifted to safer places by boats of Pak Army and Punjab government. Moreover, 80 out of 97 canals have been rehabilitated while educational process at six out of seventeen schools has been resumed. During the visit to DG Khan, the Chief Minister was informed that had the new system of sewerage and drainage built by the present government of PML-N at a cost of two billion rupees not been there, the city would have faced serious damages.

Earlier, when the Chief Minister accompanied by Senior Advisor Senator Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa reached DG Khan, he was received by Member Provincial Assembly Sardar Dost Muhammad Khan Khosa and Sardar Atif Mazari, Commissioner and DCO DG Khan, senior officers and notables of the area.