Punjab govt to send relief goods for IDPs

[Naveed Yaseen]

Unlimited grant for affected persons announced by CM, says Hanif Abbasi

The Punjab government will dispatch three caravans of trucks laden with relief goods for internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Malakand division today (Monday).

“The PML-N leaders and business community members will accompany the caravans from Rawalpindi, Lahore and Gujranwala comprising ten trucks each,” PML-N Member National Assembly Hanif Abbasi stated this while addressing a press conference at the PML-N Public Secretariat here on Sunday.

He said the Punjab government has announced unlimited grant for providing relief to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) and these caravans are part of that relief. “Initially the grant announced by the Punjab government was Rs50 million and later it was increased to Rs100 million. However, keeping in view the gravity of the situation, the Punjab government will now provide unlimited amount of relief to the IDPs,” he added.

Abbasi said Punjab government has constituted a Rehabilitation Committee for the IDPs all over Punjab. “I will head the committee with its base camp in Rawalpindi,” he said and added the committee has been constituted to provide medicines, food, clothes and ‘atta’. The committee will also help the IDPs in establishment of camps in NWFP.

“The Punjab government is holding negotiations with the traders and philanthropists to come forward and lend their support in form of donations including clothes and other valuables,” he said and added the relief camps would also be set up in different parts of Punjab particularly in Rawalpindi. In this connection, a special meeting of PML-N leaders would be held at Punjab House today (Monday), he said.

He said, “Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has directed the committee members to distribute 5,000 metric tonnes wheat and hundreds of ‘atta’ bags to the internally displaced persons,” Hanif Abbasi said.

Hanif Abbasi also appealed to the overseas Pakistanis to rise to the occasion and extend their support to the IDPs and join hands with the Punjab government in this regard. “The Punjab government has decided to support the federal government at this critical juncture of Pakistan’s history irrespective of any party affiliation or being part of opposition,” he announced.

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