LAHORE: Announcing that a total of Rs12.20 billion in aid is being given to 55,400 flood victims, Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said on Thursday that the government is giving Rs280000 each to the owners of 47,500 mud houses and Rs0.4 million each to the owners of 8,000 concrete houses.
While addressing the ceremony of distributing relief funds to the flood victims, the CM commended the efforts of officers who lend a helping hand and acknowledged that Sania Nishtar developed a wonderful distribution system in two months. The transparency of the aid programme is unprecedented as the record is available on the PDMA system while World Bank, Asian Development Bank and ambassadors have also praised the aid programme, he added.
According to him, Ehsaas programme is Imran Khan’s plant which is going to become a tree. The work of helping the helpless brings blessings in other works. Work equal to one year has been done in three months which would benefit the common man.
He said that children were given free education and books before and now they are benefiting from free education till graduation. Three times more stipends would be given than before to the girl students of South Punjab. He said, “Imran Khan has a cheque of one billion rupees for Sindh but they have not conducted the survey yet. It could be siphoned off if the aid money is given to Sindh. Don’t know how many days are in power but would continue to serve the people.”
Dr Sania Nishtar said on the occasion that preventing corruption in the Ehsaas programme was the biggest challenge. In the past, social protection data was compiled on a political basis. The curse of nepotism and political bias has been eliminated in data entry. The record of every payment will be recorded through CCTV, she added.
Chief Secretary Abdullah Sumbal said that a coordinated and transparent aid mechanism has been established through collective efforts. The CM formally launched the programme and gave relief funds to the victims of Taunsa, Jampur, Kot Chhata, Rajanpur, and Rojhan at the special BoP counter.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022