The government is likely to release cash compensation of Rs 20,000 to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s victims of last year’s floods before Eid-ul-Fitr while the marooned flood victims of Sindh would have to suffer until their provincial government receives estimates from a third party to determine the actual number of victims.
“The names on the victims’ list have been reduced from 1.6 million to 1 million,” Secretary Finance Waqar Masud Khan told reporters after the meeting of the National Assembly Committee on finance. He said release of Rs 20,000 tranche to victims in KP would be made before Eid-ul-Fitr while the release of funds to the victims in Sindh would be delayed till the government verifies the figures.
The government has received $125 million from the World Bank and $190 million from the United States for the Citizen Damages Compensation Program (CDCP) which it had planned to disburse among one million flood affected families before June 30. The total size of the program is estimated to be Rs 32 billion. The project was delayed after the promised foreign inflows from the donors did not materialise. Launched in September last year, CDCP provided Rs 20,000 to around 1.4 million families to cover their immediate needs. The plan was to provide a cash grant of Rs 100,000 to each affected family. The cash grants are hassle free and would accelerate the desired aim of revival of the local economy. The government’s stance over cash payment mechanism was that the households faced with income shocks reduce assets and consumption, increase borrowing, and take children out of school to work. Therefore, cash assistance to flood-affected households was essential to mitigate the adverse effects of income shocks and to address poverty and vulnerability.
