Rations for 1,000 families, other items dispatched: KATI sends first consignment of goods to flood-hit areas in Khuzdar

KARACHI: The Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) has sent first consignment of relief goods to 1,000 families affected by rains and floods in the Balochistan district of Khuzdar under the leadership of the association’s president, Salman Aslam, who is also the head of its relief committee.

Speaking on the occasion, KATI’s Patron-in-Chief S.M. Muneer said that his association is the first of its kind to send relief materials to the flood victims.

“We share the grief of the victims and will not leave them in the lurch at this difficult time,” he said.

Out of the pledged amount of Rs 1 million for the KATI’s relief fund, Zubair Tufail alone donated a sum of Rs 500,000, he said. The remaining amount was deposited by the association’s other members.

He appealed to members of the business community to donate generously to the KATI’s relief fund.

S.M. Muneer said that a team under the leadership of President Salman Aslam is carrying the first batch of goods to the affected areas. “We pray that he returns after successfully achieving his goal.”

The KATI’s patron-in-chief pointed out that hundreds of people had perished due to rains and the resultant flash floods in Balochistan and a Pakistan Army helicopter had also crashed there. As a result, six military personnel aboard, including the corps commander of Quetta, had been martyred.

KATI’s President Salman Aslam, KITE Limited’s CEO Zubair Chhaya, Senior Vice President Maheen Salman, and Commissioner of Afghan Refugees Repatriation Cell of Sindh Hamud-ur-Rehman were prominent among those who attended the aid delivery ceremony.

Salman Aslam said that under the first batch five trucks were carrying rations for 1,000 families, 200 tents, and over 300 water coolers, besides medicines, food items, and drinking water. These goods and materials will be immediately distributed among the needy people in the affected areas.

He said that the team he is leading includes Hamud-ur-Rahman, Junaid Naqi, Umar Saeed, Junaid Khan, Nauman Aslam, Muhammad Tauseef, Mir Muhammad and Rahmatullah. “We aim to immediately deliver relief goods to disaster-stricken people in the remote areas, where access is difficult,” he said.

The first consignment will go to the Wadh tehsil of Khuzdar district, where 70,000-80,000 people have been badly affected by the rains and where entire houses have been washed away.

President of KATI said that currently there is a severe shortage of tents, medicines and clean drinking water in Balochistan. He said that with the support of the business community he intends to provide more relief goods to the affected people in the flood-hit areas of the province.

Hamud-ur-Rahman said that there is a lack of shelter, medicines and clean drinking water in the flood-affected areas, while cholera is spreading rapidly. The communications system has also been badly affected. He said other associations should emulate the example of KATI and provide relief goods to the affected people.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022