Flood areas in Balochistan to be drained: PM Shehbaz

Web Desk (LTN NEWS): PM Shehbaz Sharif has told the people in charge to drain flood-damaged areas immediately. He worries that water-borne diseases will spread if the water stays piled up.

He gave these orders on Monday when he went to see the flood-damaged areas of the Sohbatpur district in the Nasirabad division. Earlier, the prime minister went to Khuzdar to check on the work to help people get back on their feet after recent floods, which caused much damage in 28 of Balochistan’s 35 districts.

Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo was the Chief Minister of Balochistan. Sardar Akhtar Mengal, MPA Saleem Khosa, and Chief Secretary Abdul Aziz Uqaili were also there.

After getting to Khuzdar, Mr. Sharif took a plane to Wadh town. He went to the home of the President of the Balochistan National Party, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, to tell him that his uncle, Mir Meharullah Mengal, had died the week before. He gave fateha to the soul of the person who had died.

At the event, there were also Federal Minister Hassan Agha, MNA Syed Mehmood, MPA Akbar Mengal, and Kalat division commissioner Dawood Khilji.

Later, the prime minister went to Sohbatpur, where he looked over the whole flood situation and heard about what the provincial government and other authorities were doing to help flood victims.

The prime minister told the people in charge to move quickly to get rid of flood water that was still building up in some flood-damaged areas so that people wouldn’t get diseases that are spread by water.

He said that he feared water-borne diseases would become a big problem if the area took longer to drain.

Read Pakistan’s floods kill 1,486 people and hurt 12,749: NDMA

He suggested that water engineers and hydrologists be brought in to give ideas on getting the water out of the area immediately.

He asked the government to ensure the people affected by the disaster had clean water to drink.

“The flood water needs to be drained before the next wheat planting season, and plans are being made to give growers seeds,” he said. He also said that Rs5 billion had been given to flood victims in Balochistan through the Benazir Income Support Programme, with each household getting Rs25,000 to meet their immediate needs.

The prime minister said that the government had stopped charging 300 units of electricity in August and September to help people whose floods had hit.

He also talked to people at a medical camp set up in the area for people who had been hurt by the flood and asked the staff if there were any medicines left.

Mr. Sharif also told students at a makeshift school that in two months, the government would build them a model school with all the latest facilities.

Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, the chief minister of Balochistan, told the prime minister that all available resources were being used to help the people who the floods had hurt.

He said the government had started an Rs16 billion subsidy program to help farmers and landlords who lost a lot of money because of the flood and had standing crops destroyed.

He asked the prime minister to give the families who were hurt by the floods the Rs10 billion that had been promised.

Abdul Aziz Uqaili, the Chief Secretary of Balochistan, told the prime minister about the ongoing relief and rebuilding efforts in the province’s flood-damaged areas.