- Shahbaz cuts short visit to London for medical check-up to personally monitor relief and rehabilitation activities in flood-hit areas
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif Thursday has announced a hefty amount of Rs 5 billion for construction of rain drains in a bid to improve the drainage system of South Punjab.
The CM was on a visit to flood-hit areas of Dera Ghazi Khan where he was briefed about flood relief efforts in the area.
Talking to journalists, Shahbaz said he was monitoring the flood situation and rescue activities himself.
The CM has cut short a visit to London in order to personally monitor relief activities in flood-hit South Punjab districts. He was in London for a medical check-up, but decided to immediately return home.
In his instructions to the Cabinet Committee on Floods, the chief minister called for accelerating relief activities in the affected areas. He directed the committee to visit the flood-hit villages to monitor relief activities while the administration and institutions concerned of the affected districts should perform their duties in an efficient manner. He said food and other requirements of the affected people should be fulfilled. He said fodder should also be arranged for the cattle of the flood-tossed people.
The chief minister’s visit to DG Khan comes a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited flood-hit Chitral.
Earlier this week, Pakistan People’s Party Secretary General Sardar Latif Khosa had criticised Shahbaz Sharif for extending his stay in London at a time when a large number of people in South Punjab were affected by the flood.
Meanwhile, addressing a meeting in Muzaffargarh on Thursday, Punjab Home Minister Col (r) Shuja Khanzada directed officials to stay on high alert in order to provide relief to flood-hit areas in the province.
He said an initial amount of Rs 5 million had been released for flood-affected districts. The minister also pledged to issue a supplementary grant of Rs 17 million to these districts as needed.
