Flood victims’ rehabilitation: KP CM rules out any contact with Centre

CHARSADDA/NOWSHERA: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said Tuesday there was no coordination with the federal government for the rehabilitation of the flood-affected people.

“The PMLN-led government is an illegitimate government and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will not keep any contact with it,” said the chief minister while talking to reporters during his visit to the flood-hit Charsadda district.

Mahmood Khan defended his Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra and said he had written a letter to Federal Finance and Revenue Minister Miftah Ismail about the rights of the province. The chief minister insisted that Jhagra had not written to International Monetary Fund, adding he had only contacted Miftah Ismail.

He said an alleged audio leak which was being cited for all this was yet to be verified. In response to a question regarding the cooperation of the federal government to deal with the flood situation, the chief minister accused the federal government of showing step-motherly treatment to KP province which, he said, was unacceptable.

He said that the federal government had announced relief packages for other flood-hit provinces, adding KP should be given due share as well. The chief minister believed that the federal government had filed baseless cases against PTI Chairman Imran Khan which, he said, were void of truth and based on political vendetta.

He said the people had expressed trust in Imran Khan time and again which was evident from the fact that an estimated amount of Rs 5 billion was raised as donations in just a couple of hours through a telethon programme by him on Monday.

The chief minister added that these funds would be spent on flood affectees all over the country. The chief minister said the recent floods were more severe in nature than the floods back in the year 2010.

However, the destruction has been considerably less in respect to the loss in human lives and damage to infrastructure. Responding to a question about encroachments on rivers, Mahmood Khan said infrastructures on the banks of rivers and waterways in Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and Swat suffered heavy damage but most of this infrastructure was built before the PTI government.

Mahmood Khan visited Charsadda and Nowshera as part of a series of visits after the recent floods. He was accompanied by Minister Shaukat Yousafzai, Advisor Khaliqur Rehman, Members of the Provincial Assembly Idris Khattak, Ibrahim Khattak, and other officials.

The chief minister inspected the relief activities and losses by meeting the flood affectees presently residing in the relief camps. Mahmood Khan stated that the repatriation of displaced people was a priority.

He added that the KP government was waiting for the flood water to recede after which repatriation of people would be carried out. During his visit to the relief camps, Mahmood Khan directed the officials to arrange the generator facility in the relief camps to provide an uninterrupted power supply to the flood-hit people.

Mahmood Khan said all available resources were being utilized as part of the rehabilitation efforts. “An amount of Rs1.00 billion has already been released and a summary for the provision of additional Rs2.5 billion has also been approved by the provincial cabinet,” he added.

Later, at a briefing, the chief minister was informed that due to the timely intimation, there was no loss of life in the Nowshera district as the people had been shifted from vulnerable areas to safe places well in time.

He was told that food and other necessary relief items had been provided to the people affected by floods. The assessment of damage to houses, crops and other infrastructure was going on which would be completed soon. The chief minister was informed that male and female doctors along with the relevant staff are present round-the-clock in Amangarh relief camp in Nowshera to look after the displaced people.