LAHORE    -   Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Tuesday visited the flood-hit areas of Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan and inspected the relief activities besides providing financial assistance to the heirs of persons who lost their lives in the deluge.

Financial aid cheques of worth Rs0.8 million were given to the fami­lies who lost their near and dear ones in the flash floods.

The chief minister directed all-out help to the flood victims and offered fateha for the departed souls. He announced to declare all the flood-affected areas as calamity-hit and vowed that water courses of hill tor­rents’ will be channelized to avoid damages in future.

Parvez minister made an aerial visit to the flood-affected areas of Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan after conducting a ground visit. The irri­gation secretary briefed him about the relief activities. The CM directed to speed up the relief activities, add­ing that the supply of food items should be continued to the affected population while ensuring every possible help to the people in need.

He also visited the rescue opera­tion center in the Shahpur area of Rajanpur and held a meeting with the flood victims besides inspecting relief activities. The chief minister asserted that the Punjab government stands with the affectees and prioritise their early recovery. “The people facing trouble would not be left alone,” he assured. He said that the government had set up medical camps where the flood victims were being vaccinated against epidemics. He said that the families of the deceased were being given financial assistance of Rs0.8 million each. “I assure you that the government will continue to take every possible measure to help the flood victims,” he affirmed.

Local politicians including Na­sarullah Dareshak, Hasnain Bahadur Dareshak, Mohsin Leghari, Farooq Amanullah Dareshak, Owais Khan Dareshak, commissioner, RPO Dera Ghazi Khan and others were pres­ent. The CM also visited the Chhat­ani area of Taunsa and met the flood victims to console them.

Speaking to the media, Parvez Elahi asserted that he will not al­low the rights of any flood victim to be violated. Damages to crops and houses will be compensated soon; he assured and added that he has inspected all the flood-affected ar­eas of Rajanpur and DG Khan today (Tuesday). PDMA and line depart­ments will start immediate work for short-term and long-term planning, he added. During the floods of 2004, Khawaja Sahib brought me here. At that time, I planned to channelize the hill torrents’ paths and allocated 2.5 billion for this job. At that time, the dollar was worth 60 rupees but Sheh­baz Sharif did nothing during his stint and wasted 15 years which increased the project cost enormously. Shehbaz Sharif kept talking but did nothing for the poor, he lamented.

The CM said that all the affect­ees will be served without caring for any political attachment and their hearts will be won. Similarly, the survey will be fully transpar­ent, he added. All MNAs and MPAs here are my colleagues and they are engaged in serving the affected people in the flood-hit areas. The CM ordered to immediately start de­velopment work from allocated 20 billion rupees in affected areas and announced to investigate inundation of Shadan Lund food center and its wheat stock. Commissioner DG Khan told that relief camps have been set up and food is being provided to the affectees besides their vaccination.

Sardar M Khan Leghari, Khwaja Sheraz Mahmood, M Hanif Pitafi, Kh­waja Daud Sulemani, Sardar Saifud­din Khan Khosa, Javed Akhtar Lund, Sardar Mohyuddin Khan Khosa and others were also present.