IMPRESSIVE FEDERAL HELP FOR BALOCHISTAN

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Raja Pervez Ashraf, had paid a flying visit to the flood devastated areas of Balochistan in Naseerabad Division and made a personal assessment about the losses suffered by the people. According to some reports, more than 100 people lost their lives and over 0.7 million people affected by the flash floods and torrential rains. Most of the people ere rendered homeless and score of them lost their household belongings cattle, livestock and poultry. However, the losses in terms o livestock were small comparing to the floods of 2010 which devastated the entire area and people are yet to recover from the shock of floods of 2010. It was a great natural disaster Balochistan faced in decades. Balochistan is facing the ninth natural disaster during the current decade which included rains, floods, earthquakes, cyclones. With this background, the Prime Minister paid a flying visit to the flood affected areas of Naseerabad Division and made personal assessment about the damages besides the officials briefed him about the extent of devastation in the rains and floods. Thousands of houses were washed away, basic infrastructure destroyed, more than 0.7 people were forced to seek refuge to high grounds to save their lives. The agricultural land is devastated and standing cotton and paddy crops are under several feet of water which is not humanly possible to drain it out in weeks and months. Thus the losses suffered by the people and also the losses in economic terms are estimated to over Rs 20 billions. During the 2010 floods and torrential rains, the economic losses were estimated at Rs 100 billion and there was no matching grant and financial help from the Federal Government. Even the friendly countries were not allowed to provide help to the flood affected people of Naseerabad Division in 2010. This time, there is a changed attitude from the Government of Pakistan as the Prime Minister had announced a package of Rs 2.6 billions for rebuilding the basic infrastructure, repairing roads, bridges and plugging the breaches in the canal. For providing food and other necessities of life to the flood affected, the Prime Minister had allocated Rs 600 million as grant to feed the people. It is a generous help from the Federal Government for the first time as dozens of boats and six helicopters are still engaged in rescue operations taking the marooned people to safer places. The Prime Minister announced Rs four hundred thousands each as compensation to the family who lost a member in the floods. The Prime Minister also asked the NDMA to provide tens of thousands of tents to the flood affected so that they should get some shelter in this natural disaster. The Prime Minister had also issued instructions to the authorities to complete all the on-going development projects of Balochistan on priority basis. He specifically mentioned the construction o basic infrastructure and completion of the Kachhi Canal, the most prestigious irrigation project of Balochistan. Earlier, the Pakistan Army provided ration, flood to the affected people and established a field hospital providing treatment to the affected people at a large scale. In the meantime, the Provincial Government and the local administration made sustainable efforts to rescue and provide relief to the affected people. The Chief Minister Nawab Raisani had issued instructions to the MPAs and Ministers of the area to use their MPA fund for providing relief to the affected people. The Provincial Government had been using its meager resources in providing relief to the people in Naseerabad Division where flash floods and rains played havoc with the local economy. The Chief Secretary remained on his toes during the entire crisis regularly informing the Prime Minister about the level of devastation by floods and rains in Balochistan and sought urgent Federal help to mitigate the human sufferings.