KARACHI: The prime minister on Monday said his government has decided to double the assistance under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for flood-hit people from the existing Rs28 billion to Rs70 billion.
The 2.5 percent increase in the volume of the programme has been made in view of the unprecedented damage to infrastructure and crops in the wake of recent floods.
Speaking during his visit to a relief camp set up in Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh, Shehbaz Sharif said the country experienced unprecedented losses due to floods.
He said a fixed stipend of Rs25,000 was being dolled out to each flood-hit family to help it recover its financial losses.
He expressed concern the cotton crop in the flood-hit cities of Sindh, which was means of livelihood for locals, was entirely damaged by floods.
Sharif said joint efforts at the national level were the need of the hour to mitigate the suffering of the flood-affected people.
He said provision of shelter to the displaced persons was direly needed, adding that the government had placed the order for the purchase of seven million tents.
Medical camps, he said, had also been set up at the relief camps to avert the spread of diseases.
The prime minister expressed gratitude to the friendly countries for extending assistance to Pakistan following the flood losses.
He said the magnitude of the disaster was bigger than the capacity of the country to effectively cope.
He urged the nation including intelligentsia and media to focus on the flood situation and set aside highlighting politics.
Sharif interacted with the affected people at the relief camp and distributed among them cheques of compensation money.
