Lahore:
The Punjab government led by PML-N has prepared a rescue set of 500 billion rupees for flood victims, sources said. The plan aims to compensate for losses and provide financial assistance to millions of people affected along the banks of three rivers during the recent rains and floods.
Payments will be made through the emergency card of the Punjab government. Families whose houses have been completely destroyed will receive 1 million rupees, while those whose houses have been partially damaged will receive 500,000 rupees.
According to sources, 63,200 brick houses and 309,684 mud houses were damaged in floods. Compensation will also be given for the loss of cattle, including cows and buffaloes.
Farmers whose crops have been destroyed will be offset at the rate of Rs 20,000 per acre. The package also includes the rehabilitation of roads, bridges and other infrastructures.
Massive floods have struck the rural centers of the heart and industrial centers for the first time, which caused billions of dollars in damage while putting food supplies, exports and a fragile economic recovery.
The government had been optimistic around 2026, which breaks a growth of 4.2% on the back of a rebound in agriculture and manufacturing after the economy was stabilized as part of a bailout of the international monetary fund of $ 7 billion.
Instead, the record rains of the monsoon since the end of June, amplified by the outings of the dam in India, submerged large expanses from Punjab.
While waters have not yet fallen into many districts, managers and analysts warn that the blow could be deeper than in 2022, when a third of the country was underwater, due to double shocks for agriculture and manufacturing.
In Punjab, the engine of rice, cotton and cotton and corn in Pakistan, 1.8 million acres of agricultural land was flooded, according to the provincial disaster management agency. “About 50% of rice and 60% of cotton and corn crops have been damaged,” said Khalid Bath, president of Pakistan Farmers Association.
He said the losses could exceed 2.5 million acres, up to 1 billion of rupees ($ 3.53 billion). “This is different from everything we have seen in recent decades,” said Iqrar Ahmad Khan, former vice-chancellor of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad.
He believes that at least one tenth of the country’s crops are destroyed, vegetable losses exceeding 90% in certain districts.
The timing is perilous: Pakistan is about to sow wheat, the harvest which provides almost half of the caloric contribution of the country.
The national reserves remain comfortable after a strong harvest of 2024, according to Crop Monitor, but the sowing window is at risk in the fields always smooth with silt and mud. “Food insecurity is coming, not just higher prices,” said Khan.
