Ghulam Sarwar calls on CM Elahi
Abid Butt calls on CM Punjab to donate Rs 70m to flood relief fund
Canadian High Commissioner Ms Wendy Gilmour called on Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi at his office on Monday. She discussed matters of mutual interest and expressed regret over flood-related losses.
The CM welcomed international assistance to flood affectees and maintained that the flood has caused colossal damages and the government was following a comprehensive strategy to rehabilitate the affected people. Pakistan and Canada enjoy the best friendly relations while a good number of Pakistanis are also residing there, he remarked. However, there is a need to take solid steps to promote trade and economic relations by expanding cooperation in education, health and energy production sectors, he maintained.
A proactive approach is needed to promote trade and economic cooperation between Canada and Punjab province and the time has come to take steps for further expanding cooperation in different sectors.
In this regard, the exchange of trade delegations would give impetus to bilateral cooperation, concluded the CM.
Wendy Gilmour expressed the desire to promote cooperation between Canada and Punjab in different sectors. Canadian Consular (Commercial) and Senior Trade Commissioner Michael Lazaruk and Chairman Nestle Pakistan Syed Yawar Ali were also present.
Meanwhile, Chairman Amanah Group and a well-known businessman Abid Butt met with Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi at his office on Monday and presented a cheque of 70 million rupees for the CM Flood Relief Fund.
The CM admired the philanthropic passion to help flood victims and said that an effective monitoring mechanism has been developed for maintaining transparency. The deserving persons will be given their full rights; he asserted and told that the installation of special filtration hand pumps was being reviewed to provide clean drinking water in the flood-hit areas.
The affectees are our brethren and they will not be left alone in this hour of trial.
The government was utilizing every resource to help the victims, he said. The chief secretary and political and administrative teams of the Punjab government were fully active in the early rehabilitation of the flood victims, the CM concluded.
Muhammad Yousaf, Muhamamd Parvez Awan, Najam Mazari, Advisor Amer Saeed Raan and former minister Ghulam Abbas were also present.
Meanwhile The Punjab government stands with the flood-affected population of Balochistan, Sindh and KPK provinces and would also send medicines and medical staff to the flood affectees.
Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi stated this while talking to former federal minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan who called on him at his office and appreciated the relief measures.
At the outset, the CM vowed that the government was fully committed to redressing the flood-related damages and repeated that affectees would not be left unattended. He noted that flood-affected areas of Rajanpur, DG Khan and Mianwali have been declared calamity-hit and water and land revenue charges have been waived off to facilitate the distressed population. Similarly, a survey was being conducted to assess damages to houses, crops and livestock along with the provision of tents, food hampers and necessary materials in these areas; he added and continued that the cabinet has also approved four billion rupees for the rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure.
