Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader and Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Aseefa Bhutto Zardari has urged Punjab authorities to utilize the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for flood relief efforts, warning that failing to do so would amount to negligence.
According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, in a message shared on the social media platform X, Aseefa Bhutto highlighted that more than four million people have been affected by devastating floods across Punjab.
She emphasized that BISP provides an effective mechanism for delivering assistance to victims, as the program already has verified data and the capacity to reach affected households. Ignoring this resource, she cautioned, would risk delaying or weakening relief operations.
Yesterday, 24NewsHD TV channel reported that Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari told the media in a press conference in Lahore that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had announced a relief package for the flood-affected people of the province.
She said that under the package, every person who lost their entire house to floods would be given Rs 1 million, while those whose homes had been partially damaged would be given Rs 0.5 million each.
Elaborating further, Azma said that the farmers, whose crops had been destroyed due to floods, would receive Rs 10,000 each for each acre of their land. “Similarly, Rs500,000 will be given to the person losing a buffalo, while Rs50,000 each will be given to those losing goats and sheep,” she said.
She said that although she was not fond of lecturing Sindh Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, she would still like to ask him why the PPP government in Sindh did not prepare for floods when calamity had struck the province last time. “The only thing I can do for the people politicising the issue is to pray for them,” she said.
Azma said that the federal government, as well as the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), had completely supported the provincial government in dealing with the floods.
The minister said that 4.7 million people had been displaced by floods in the province. “We have completed the initial survey in the affected areas,” she said, adding, “As many as 4,794 villages were affected.”
Reporter: Aajiz Jamali