ISLAMABAD, Aug 18 (Alliance News): Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said on Monday that rescue, relief, and restoration of flood-affected areas was a national obligation and the federal and provincial governments would work collectively to fulfill this responsibility.
During a media briefing along with Minister for Climate Change Musaddiq Malik and Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Inam Haider, he said an important meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the recent flood situation caused by monsoon rains.
The minister said the meeting thoroughly discussed the flood situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan and reviewed the ongoing rescue and relief activities in flood-hit areas. Attaullah Tarar said coordination was going on with the provincial governments in an improved way.
He said several meetings were held at the National Command and Control Center before the monsoon, in which representatives of all provincial governments participated.
“Data has been regularly provided by the NDMA to the relevant authorities through the Early Warning System,” Tarar remarked.
Efforts are being made at the national level to deal with the current situation and, on the instructions of the Prime Minister, the NDMA is in touch with the provincial governments, he said.
He added that rescue activities and relief supplies were being carried out vigorously and the federal government was playing its role under national responsibility.
He said the Armed Forces and several other organizations were actively engaged in relief activities in flood and rain-affected areas of KP, AJK, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The minister further said that Secretary Communications was already in Gilgit-Baltistan to supervise restoration of the Skardu-Gilgit Road, while the Chairman National Highway Authority was in Malakand Division to lead the restoration of roads.
Similarly, Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Engineer Amir Muqam was also in Bunair to monitor rescue and relief operations.
Tarar said the Prime Minister had instructed the ministers for water, power, and communications to ensure their presence in these areas to personally monitor restoration work of infrastructure related to their respective ministries.
