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Islamabad [Pakistan]Sept. 12 (ANI): Pakistan has digitized flood aid and distribution activities to ensure transparency amid reports of corruption.
It will now be digitized through a digital flood dashboard, following instructions from Prime Minister Sheikh Baz Sharif, Geo News reported.
The digital dashboard will keep the public informed of foreign flood relief being received and distributed to victims. The decision was made at a meeting chaired by the prime minister on Saturday.
State-of-the-art technology is used to create digital flood dashboards that provide all the details on rescue operations and the receipt and distribution of goods and aid.
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According to Geo News, the Prime Minister also announced that the financial aid audit of flood victims will be conducted by the General Authority of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) and a world-renowned audit firm to ensure transparency.
He also reviewed the restoration of services in affected areas and called for expedited restoration of roads, bridges and electricity. He instructed the victims to be provided with basic necessities.
Meanwhile, Federal Finance and Taxation Minister Mifta Ismail said the government has provided Rs 7,000 crore for relief and rehabilitation of flood-affected people, GeoNews reported.
In an interview with the media, Ismail said an additional Rs 5,000 crore would be provided to those affected. Every penny received from abroad is audited internally and externally, he said. He also said that 33 million people live under open skies.
“The prime minister will soon hold a meeting with industrialists and businessmen,” he said, adding that APTMA had deposited Rs 400 crore into the prime minister’s flood relief fund and would donate another Rs 1 billion, according to Geo News.
Federal Railways Minister Hawaja Saad Rafiq expressed his gratitude to all the countries that helped Pakistan during this difficult time. According to Geo News, APTMA leader Dr Gohar Ejaz said the association will also donate 150,000 ration bags to flood victims.
Meanwhile, the death toll from floods in Sindh province surged to 621, with 12 more deaths in the past 24 hours on Sunday.
As floodwaters swept over the Chak-Nizam bridge, the first line of defense in the metropolis, authorities on Sunday launched Plan B, under which embankments are being built on the banks of the Brda Canal to protect the city.
Heavy machinery is being used to build levees as high as 15 feet, the authorities said, adding that flash flooding from Manchar Lake had breached the Dadu Ring Bund, posing a threat to the city, Geographic News reported.
The water level of Lake Manchar, the largest freshwater lake in the country, is rising. Rising floodwaters washed away the first line of defense in the city of more than 1 million people, forcing the government, with the support of the military, to reinforce the remaining dikes.
Thousands were housed in tents or waiting for shelter under the open sky along the main highway to Hyderabad. Either side of the highway could be seen flooded for miles.
Hundreds of citizens left the city in small trucks, vans and rickshaws. Many others and their livestock were also spotted trudging along the road under the scorching sun, GeoNews reported.
Huge floods also forced the government to transfer nearly 400 prisoners from the metropolitan prison to the Hyderabad prison.
At the same time, Prime Minister Sheikh Baz Sharif noted that a 500KV power grid in most parts of the country may be threatened by floods and instructed to use all resources to protect the power grid.
The Prime Minister’s Office media arm said he instructed senior civilian and military officials to immediately save the grid from the flooding. (ANI)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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