The Sindh police have registered cases against 15 agents found involved in taking a cut from the compensation money given to flood victims under Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, it has been reported on Saturday. The agents took a cut before handing out the money to deserving families in Sukkur and Larkana. At least 150,000 families were nominated to receive aid under the PM’s relief program as per the information shared by Director Riaz Soomro. It has been learnt that the agents subtracted amounts before handing out the relief amount to the 150,000 families thereby spurring legal action against them. Each family was meant to receive Rs25,000 through the relief package.“So far, nearly Rs4 billion have beendisbursed to the needy families,” Soomro said.

He maintained that around 300,000 families are eligible to receive aid in the Sukkur and Larkana region under the PM relief program. Nearly a week ago, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a Rs15 billion grant for Sindh flood affectees. While talking to reporters, flanked by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and federal ministers including Bilawal Bhutto and Syed Khurshid Shah at Sukkur Barrage, the prime minister said the situation demanded rising above politics and helping the flood victims overcome their miseries. PM Sharif had also conducted an aerial survey of the inundated areas of Sukkur, Rohri, Khairpur, Faiz Ganj, Kot Diji, and Thari Mir Wah during the visit and expressed serious concern over the loss of lives and infrastructure caused by floods. The prime minister said the grant by the federal government would help the Sindh government carry out relief and rehabilitation activities.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP