4:01 AM
Muhammad Zai Khan
Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that people were not in a position to pay taxes consequently the provincial government waived off all taxes.
“The disaster has left people completely destitute. They have lost each and everything and they are not in a position to pay taxes. Therefore the provincial government should appeal to the federal government to waive off all taxes,” he said.
If federal government did not waive off taxes, the provincial government would be with the calamity-hit people of the province, he said.
The minister castigated officials of the provincial health department for their poor performance and said that he did not see doctors and medical staff at relief centres in Peshawar.
He said that only volunteers were present at the relief centres to provide health cover to the affected people.
“The government cannot bear lethargy on the part of the employees and they must show their presence otherwise serious action will be taken,” he warned. He said that people were suffering from water-borne diseases and cholera could break out any time.
Mr Hussain said that government had provided 500 kits of anti-snake venom and cholera and each kit was sufficient for 10,000 people. He said that snake biting and cholera cases had been reported from different relief centres.
He asked World Health Organisation to provide 50 kits of anti-snake venom and cholera immediately to avert epidemics.
He said that people needed drinking water and government had arranged 10,000 bottles of mineral water, to be distributed among the stranded people free of cost.
He said that there was serious shortage of potable water in Charsadda and Pabbi because sources of drinking water had been destroyed by the floods. He said that the affected people were being provided with cooked food in relief centres.
The minister said that one of the major causes of the devastating flood was massive encroachment along the banks of rivers and watercourses in urban and rural areas of the province.
He said that encroachers should remove their illegal structures voluntarily; otherwise the government would take action.
He said that provincial government had set up monitoring committees comprising ministers, lawmakers and provincial secretaries for overseeing relief activities in the affected areas. The committees would provide their daily reports to the chief minister.
About relief operation in the flood-hit areas, he said that provincial government had released Rs43 million to the district governments for provision of food, water and other relief items.
He said that National Disaster Management Authority dispatched 1,000 tents for the displaced people in the province.
So far, he said, the provincial government was bearing all expenditures from its own resources and did not receive any assistance from the centre or any other agency.
He said that the main powerhouse in Swat was out of order and chief of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company was sent to Mingora in a helicopter to restore electricity.
He said that entire Malakand division except Battkhela was without electricity and natural gas. He asked National Highway Authority to rebuild main road to Shangla to avoid shortage of food items.
