Photo courtesy PID
Pakistan’s federal cabinet on Tuesday approved an expansion to funds allocated for cash assistance to flood victims, raising it from Rs. 28 billion to Rs. 70 billion, which will be distributed through the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP).
“The federal cabinet today [Sept. 6] decided to increase the cash assistance from Rs. 28 billion to Rs. 70 billion as a one-time payment at the rate of Rs. 25,000 per family,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a posting on Twitter post after the cabinet meeting. “This increase was made keeping in view the scale and extent of flood damage. The money is being distributed through BISP,” he added.
In a subsequent post, referring to the 1965 war between Pakistan and India, he said national unity was needed for the country to overcome the challenges posed by this year’s floods. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), over 33 million people across Pakistan have been impacted by the floods, with authorities warning the scale of the devastation could take “years” for the country to fully recover from.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s House said Sharif had directed authorities concerned to ensure zoning regulations for construction along riverbeds were strictly enforced to prevent the future destruction of buildings in flood zones, as had happened in Swat this year.
According to the statement, the cabinet was informed that floods had affected 6,615 union councils of 81 districts, including 32 districts of Balochistan, 23 of Sindh, 17 of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 6 of Gilgit-Baltistan and 3 of Punjab. It was told the majority of deaths and injuries reported thus far had been recorded in Sindh, and was apprised of the threat posed by climate change as nationwide rains in July and August were more than 190 percent above the 30-year average, with Sindh getting 466 percent, and Balochistan 437 percent, more than their average rainfall.
The data provided to the cabinet said the floods had damaged or destroyed over 1.68 million houses; 246 bridges and 5,735km of roads. The deluge had also washed away more than 750,000 livestock heads, it said.
The statement said the cabinet was told 80-90 percent of all cultivable land would have to be used for wheat this year to avoid a severe food crisis. It also cited the prime minister as announcing aid worth Rs. 15 billion for Sindh; Rs. 10 billion each for Balochistan and KP; and Rs. 3 billion for GB. It said the federal government was providing Rs. 1 million in compensation for each family that had lost a loved one in the floods.
During the meeting, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said floods had damaged four railway lines and traffic on the Quetta-Sibbi section had been suspended due to a damaged railway bridge. Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir-Khan, meanwhile, said two of three 810MW power transmission lines of Balochistan had been restored, but submerged grid stations could only be restored once waters receded. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari apprised the cabinet of the flood situation in Sindh, with Sharif assuring him that affected families would be provided with tents and mosquito nets.
The cabinet also offered fateha for martyrs of the armed forces as well as citizens who had lost their lives to this year’s floods.