The provincial government of Khyber Pakthunkhwa has completed the survey of 745 flood affected union councils confirming the destruction of 280,629 houses in the province. "Out of the total 116,135 houses were destroyed completely while 164,494 were partially damaged in the floods," Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussein told a news briefing here at Chief Minister's House Annexe on Thursday evening.
The families of the affected houses, he said have been issued 34,786 Watan Cards in which 25,835 cards have already been utilised. Through these Watan Cards an amount of Rs 516.7 million had been paid to the flood affected people. He said that the summit of the Friends of the Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) held in Brussels on October 12 and 13 has appreciated all aspects of the Post Crisis Needs Assessment (PCNA) prepared by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood affected areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The Friends of the Democratic Pakistan, he said have also hinted at provision of assistance in giving practical shape to the strategy in this regard. In this connection, donors' countries would make pledges in Pakistan Development Forum scheduled on November 15, 2010.
The provincial government, he said will establish a separate entity for the implementation of the strategy. Work on the establishment of the special unit is in progress and would be formally announced soon. Similarly, some aspects of the PCNA are related to federal government, therefore it would be handed over to organisation concerned at federal level.
The government, he said, has approved a bench of Peshawar High Court and necessary employees for Bannu. It was the second bench after Swat that has been approved by the provincial government to help the people of Bannu to get speedy justice at their doorsteps, he added. For this purpose, he said that Rs 39.4 million has already been approved.
A special incentive package has also approved by the Chief Minister for faculty staff of Bannu Medical College. Under the package, a professor of regular faculty members of clinical sciences will not get Rs 1,50,000 while associate professor would receive Rs 1,25,000 and Rs 40000 for Assistant Professor per month. The professors/associate professors working on fixed pay on contract basis will get additional Rs one lakh and Rs 70000 salary per month in addition of his own pay. He said that a number of incentives have also been announced for the staff of Bannu medical college. The special incentives package would continue for three years and an endowment found of Rs 40million has been established, adding that 50% amount obtained from self finance students would be reserved for Endowment Fund.