News
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
CCI decides to impose flood tax* Finance minister to finalise modalities of funds’ generation with provinces
* Affected families to get Rs 20,000 after verification
* NDMC will oversee reconstruction, rehabilitation work
* Small farmers to get seed, fertiliser free of cost
By Tahir Niaz
ISLAMABAD: A crucial meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) held on Monday decided to generate additional finances for the rehabilitation of flood-affected population and reconstruction of the affected areas mainly through imposition of flood surcharge and other new taxes.
Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira told reporters that the CCI meeting had directed Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to hold a meeting with finance secretaries and chief secretaries of the provinces to finalise the mode of generating additional resources. The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, also decided to immediately pay Rs 20,000 to each affected family. The payment would be made through smart cards after verification from NADRA to ensure transparency in disbursement of money.
Kaira said the meeting had given a final shape to the National Disaster Management Council (NDMC) in consensus with the provinces. The council, he said, would comprise 13 members and would include two members from each province, one each from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and three from the federal government. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had nominated its members, while the other provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan would do so in a couple of days. The NDMC would oversee the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the flood-affected areas. The meeting had also decided to provide free of cost seeds and fertilisers to farmers who owned less than 25 acres of land.
Kaira said that initially Rs 40 billion had been worked out for the payment of Rs 20,000 to two million families for early rehabilitation. However, he said that this calculation was tentative as provinces were revising the number of affected families. The minister said that the federal government had asked the provinces to order judicial probes into reports of unauthorised breaches made in the flood embankments. The chief ministers of all provinces, the prime minister Azad Kashmir, the Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister and others attended the CCI meeting.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk