Watchdog to monitor use of flood aid and funds

Islamabad: Pakistan will set up a watchdog to ensure fully transparent use of international aid and domestic funds for relief and rehabilitation of around 20 million flood-affected people, a minister said after a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

It was also decided to mobilise maximum resources for the massive task through tax payable by affluent segments of society and cuts in expenditure by federal and provincial governments, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told a news conference.

Constitutional forum

The decisions were taken at the meeting of the Council of Common Interest, a constitutional forum for tackling issues between the federation and the provinces and inter-provincial matters.

The chief ministers of Punjab, Sindh, Kyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, premier of Kashmir and chief executive of Gilgit-Baltistan region attend the meeting.

Kaira said the finance minister and the provinces would together devise a formula for special taxation and expenditure cuts to muster funds for relief and rehabilitation.

"We have to make all efforts internally to provide funds for flood victims while looking to assistance from taxpayers in the world," he emphasised.

Nominations

The watchdog would be composed of 13 notable persons of good reputation. Each of the provinces, Kashmir and Gilgit-Batistan would recommend two names for the National Disaster Oversight Council, the minister said.

He said names from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been received while the others were expected to send their nominations shortly.

Prime Minister Gilani, he said, had underscored at the meeting the paramount need for hundred percent transparency in distribution of cash assistance to flood affected people and utilization of funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction.

"Transparency was the main focus at the deliberations of the Council of Common Interest," Kaira said.

He said all details about available funds and their utilisation along with particulars of each recipient of cash help would be placed on a special website for knowledge of everyone at home and abroad.

The minister said it will start handing out Rs20,000 immediately to each affected family as first instalment before Eid for which the government has declared a holiday from September 10 to 13.

The instalment would be paid from funds to be provided equally by the federal government and each province.

The government would provide fertiliser and seeds at its own expense to affected farmers owning less than 25 acres of agricultural land, he said.

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