PM announces another amount of Rs1 million for staff that was working for restoration of gas pipelines

QUETTA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Sunday again visited Balochistan to review work on rehabilitation of flood-affected road & railway infrastructure in the worst-affected areas of the province, & announced Rs5 million prize money for labourers who restored the Bibi Nani Bridge, Kachhi area, in just eight hours.

Shehbaz announced that Rs3 million would be given by him & Rs2 million by the Balochistan chief minister for labourers & flood relief workers in the area. The PM announced another amount of Rs1 million for the staff that was working for restoration of gas pipelines.

In the Kachhi district, the prime minister said, recent floods had swept away the Bibi Nani Bridge, disrupting traffic from Quetta to Sukkur & leaving about 6,000 people stranded on both ends. He appreciated the NHA, law enforcement jawans & other authorities who restored the damaged bridge within eight hours, adding that they did a great national service.

He also praised Assistant Commissioner of Mach Ayesha Zehri over her relief & rehabilitation efforts during the rain-induced floods. Shehbaz said the entire nation was working in unison & inspiration to overcome the problems, which was very important. In his talk with the media, he directed Chief Minister Balochistan Abdul Quddus Bizenjo & the National Highway Authority (NHA) secretary to distribute the prize money among the deserving workers. He said it was a matter of satisfaction that all people had been involved in overcoming the enormous issues after the natural calamity hit the country.

Appreciating the efforts of the district administration authorities & others, the prime minister said their commitment & devotion had been a source of inspiration for the general public. He said he saluted all those who had been involved in the relief & rehabilitation efforts.

Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) Khurram Agha gave a detailed briefing to the prime minister during an aerial view of the damaged railway bridge in Bibi Nani & the restoration work on Pinjra Bridge, which was totally swept away by the floodwaters. About 106-km road around Bibi Nani & Pinjra bridges was largely affected.

The Balochistan chief minister thanked the prime minister for his visits & continuous support to the flood-affected areas of the province. He said the FC personnel had played a major role in the restoration of connecting bridge.

Separately, PM Shehbaz Sharif urged the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) & other global agencies to support Pakistan as the climate-induced calamities had adversely affected the country’s children.

On his Twitter handle, the prime minister said over 400 children were dead in recent floods, which make up one-third of the overall death toll. The children were exposed to a greater risk of water-borne diseases, he added.

“As Pakistan battles one of the worst climate-induced calamities, among the most adversely affected are children. With over 400 dead, they make up one third of the overall death toll. Now they are at even larger risk of water-borne diseases. Unicef & other global agencies should help,” the prime minister posted.

Meanwhile, PM Office media wing said on Sunday rehabilitation work on a number of flood-damaged highways, roads & link roads had been completed, & restoration work on the remaining sections was continuing on an emergency basis.

Minister for Communication & Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) are ensuring early restoration of the spoiled road infrastructure in different parts of the country, added the release.

The prime minister is personally supervising roads’ rehabilitation & receiving updated reports on daily basis. During the last fortnight, different damaged roads in the four provinces & Gilgit-Baltistan had been restored.

The PM had stressed that rehabilitation of the communication & link roads was a top priority. The N-15 had been restored from Mansehra to Chilas via Naran, while N-25 from Karachi to Chaman had been opened for traffic, whose Hub to Khuzdar section was affected by floods.

The Karakoram Highway N-35 was also completely rehabilitated, which was closed for traffic from Indus Kohistan to Hunza districts.

Similarly, N-40 Quetta-Noshki section, N-45 Chakdara-Dir section, Indus Highway N-55 Rajanpur-Taunsa & Dera Ismail Khan-Pezu sections, N-65 Sibbi-Quetta section, N-70 Fort Munro section, N-90 Alpuri-Basham section, N-140 Gilgit-Shandour section & Strategic Highway S-1 Shangous section were restored for traffic.

The restoration work on certain highways was still continuing, which included N-50 Zhob-DI Khan section, N-95 Fatahpur, Kalam section & Motorway M-8 Wangu Hills-Banja section. These highways would soon be re-opened for traffic.