As the flash flood had adversely affected many parts of the country, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet approved Rs 5 billion as emergency funding for relief and rescue activities across the country.
Besides, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also directed to review of the probability to reschedule the loans obtained by the flood-hit communities from the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL).
As per a statement issued by the Finance Ministry, the ECC gave approval to a technical supplementary grant of Rs5 billion for the NDMA for relief, rescue, and compensation for death and injuries of affectees of the floods.
It is to be mentioned that it is a technical supplementary grant, which will not have any extra burden on the budget, as the amount is earmarked out of the contingency fiscal pool approved in the budget.
Moreover, Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail remotely presided over the ECC meeting, in which he appealed to the business community to donate money to the PM’s Flood Relief Fund.
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In this regard, the NDMA had put forward the summary in the meeting for allocation of funds for flood affectees on the orders of the premier.
The NDMA chief appealed that the block allocation of Rs5 billion may be made to the National Disaster Management Fund (NDMF) for rescue and relief activities in the flood-hit areas and also to compensate the dead and injured persons.
Miftah Ismail also ordered to immediately transfer funds to help the affected population timely.
The ECC was also told that the PM had ordered the NDMA to visit the flood-affected areas, however, the authority argued that it did not have sufficient fiscal space for granting “ex-gratia compensation to all of the affected people”.
The provincial governments will provide information on the next of kin of the deceased people to pay ex-gratia compensation contributions of the federal government.
In addition, the premier also directed the finance ministry to review the possibility of rescheduling and deferring the ZTBL loans for one year in the disaster-affected areas. However, the Ministry of Finance will take the final decision in consultation with the ZTBL management.
