Flood victims to get cash grants soon, Gilani tells APNS
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Tuesday that the process of disbursement of Rs20,000 in cash grant would start soon (before Eid) but would take 40 days to complete in order to cover such a large number of affected families spread in far flung areas of all the provinces.
The purpose of this grant, he added, is to help the families make a beginning towards normal life.
The prime minister was talking to a delegation of All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) led by its Secretary General Sarmad Ali, which met him here at the Prime Minister House Tuesday afternoon. The other members of the delegation were Mehtab Abbasi, Umar Shami, Munir Jilani and Dr. Tanvir A. Tahir.
The prime minister informed the delegation that an amount of Rs10 billion has already been pooled by the federal and all the provincial governments for disbursement of cash grant and more would be added to it soon.
As regards transparency, the prime minister mentioned that very soon all the information about receipt of funds and goods along with expenditure and disbursement would be available on the special website being launched in the next few days.
While highlighting the significance of the National Oversight Disaster Management Council (NODMC), the prime minister said the objective is to ensure transparency and optimum utilization of funds so that the benefit reaches the flood-affected persons. He expressed confidence that the support and assistance both local and foreign will increase once the damage need assessment is completed by the 19th October.
The APNS delegation appreciated the efforts of the government in coordinating the relief efforts, which they mentioned has helped to ease the difficulties of the affected to quite an extent. The APNS announced to give free space to government advertisements for flood affected or related to relief and rehabilitation of the flood-affected families. The prime minister appreciated their gesture.
At the end of the meeting, the APNS delegation apprised the prime minister of some of the problems of the newspaper industry.
The prime minister referred the matters to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for resolution at the earliest.
Source: The News
Date:9/8/2010
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