He said,”The government has distributed about 327,165 Watan Cards among the flood-hit in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Paktunkhwa.”About 184,831 Watan Cards have been issued in Punjab, 135,981 in Sindh and 7169 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while no card has been issued in Balochistan province due to non-availability of affected people’s list, the minister said.
He further said only one Watan Card distribution center is operating in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa adding that 13 more centers would start functioning within a week.
Qamar Zaman Kaira said each affected family is getting Rs. 20,000 as compensation announced by the federal as well as provincial governments for their rehabilitation.He said that 45 centres of the Authority are working in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh for issuance of Watan Cards as well as CNICs to those flood-affected people who have lost their identity cards during recent floods.The minister said Balochistan has not provided list of affected people so far, adding that presently more than one banks are facilitating the flood affected people.
All distribution work is being done in a transparent manner, he added.
The minister said about 1961 deaths have been confirmed in the flood-hit areas while about 2,907 injured have been reported in the affected areas.The massive floods have badly affected around 78 districts and 20 million people throughout the country, damaging 187,2264 houses and 12693 schools, he said.he Pakistan Railways total loss during the floods is about Rs5.3 billion, Agriculture sector suffered Rs.247 billion loss, power sector faced Rs 13 billion, while the livestock sector bore 4.2 million loss. Kaira said about 76 helicopters and 1238 boats participated in the rescue and relief activities in the flood-hit areas, while 400,000 tents have been distributed among the shelterless people.
The minister said the ‘Damage and Need Assessment’ would be completed by October 15 and donors’ conference would be convened after the assessment.
He said sufficient quantity of medicines is available to avoid breakout of any viral diseases in the calamity-hit areas, adding that on the directives of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani nearly 5.5 million children have been vaccinated in the affected areas.
He said viral diseases had not been reported in affected in large scale.
The minister said second phase of compensation would be started soon, giving assurance that the last affected person would receive the compensatory amount.
To a question, the minister informed that 98 per cent water has receded in flooded areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 90 per cent in Punjab and 14 per cent in Sindh – App
