Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday announced a preliminary relief package for the people affected by the floods that have devastated swathes of Punjab, emphasizing the government is aware of the difficulties facing the public.
In a video statement, he noted this year’s monsoon rains and flooding had caused severe human and material losses. “Helping the flood victims is our duty,” he said, announcing that electricity distribution companies had been ordered to take immediate measures to ease the burden.
According to Sharif, the government is waiving electricity bills of all residential consumers in flood-hit areas for August. He said the government was also postponing the collection of bills for commercial and industrial consumers. The federal government, he said, would bear the cost of the waived bills, adding that anyone who had already paid their bills would receive a refund in the next billing cycle.
The prime minister said the government was currently assessing losses in the agricultural, commercial, and industrial sectors of flood-hit areas. He assured the public of further relief measures if the assessment reveals losses beyond a certain threshold.
Sharif vowed that he would not rest until every displaced person was rehabilitated and able to return home. He also reaffirmed a commitment to completely rehabilitate flood-hit areas.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 985 people have died due to this year’s monsoon and floods from June 26 through Sept. 15, while another 1,062 have been injured. It said 8,481 houses had been damaged, while 6,509 livestock had perished. Additionally, 674.58km of roads have been damaged, as have 239 bridges.
Authorities say they have thus far conducted 5,464 relief operations, evacuating 2.899 million people. The government has also established 2,330 relief camps, distributing 205,536 relief items to the affected population.