Cash assistance for flood affectees increased to Rs70bn: PM Shehbaz

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the federal cabinet has decided to increase the cash assistance to Rs70 billion from Rs28 billion as a one-time payment to flood affectees.

Shehbaz Sharif announced this decision during a meeting of the federal cabinet on Tuesday.

According to state media, PM Shehbaz said that the increase has been made keeping in view the gravity of the situation due to floods.

The premier also stated in a tweet on Tuesday that the payment would be made at the rate of Rs25,000 per family.

The prime minister also said that a separate grant of Rs15 billion has been made for Sindh, Rs10 billion each for Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rs3 billion for the flood affected people of Gilgit-Baltistan.

He said that so far about Rs20 billion had been distributed as relief assistance amount through Benazir Income Support Program (BISP); adding that Rs1 million was being given to each family of deceased persons.

The premier also told the cabinet that friendly countries had been contributing generously due to increased awareness at international level.

He said relief assistance from the World Bank (EB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Jordon, United States (US) and others continues while the United Kingdom (UK) has increased its initial assistance from 1.5 million to 15 million pounds.

PM Shehbaz has also said that the increase was made keeping in view the scale and extent of flood damage.

The money would be distributed through BISP, according to PM Shehbaz.