LAHORE: The Punjab government has deployed 10,000 employees to carry out surveys in flood-affected areas of the province.
Punjab Information and Culture Minister Azma Bokhari told a press conference here on Monday.
“Punjab is currently facing severe weather challenges. The ongoing rains and floods for the past four months have affected millions of lives, but timely measures by the Punjab government have set an example in relief and rescue operations,” she said.
Azma Bokhari said 4,355 villages had been affected by floods, impacting a population of 4.199 million people. So far, 2.1m individuals and 1.5m livestock had been shifted to safe locations.
“Currently, 412 relief camps are operational across the province, housing 68,980 people. For medical support, 492 medical camps and 432 veterinary camps have been set up.”
She said the floods had caused 60 deaths and a loss of 1,543 cattle (since Aug 23).
“Agricultural land covering 1.8 million acres has been damaged, leading to hike in prices of pulses and vegetables,” she admitted.
She said the chief minister would soon announce a major relief package for the flood-affected people. She said short, medium, and long-term strategies were being prepared to handle natural calamities in the future.
The minister said the health department and the administration were fully active and in the areas where water had receded, surveillance and spraying operations had already begun.
Replying to a question, she said structural and legal reforms would follow the floods as the CM had already initiated work on them.
Expressing solidarity with farmers of Indian Punjab, she said: “Golden Punjab, which feeds the whole of India, is today gravely affected.”
She said on behalf of CM Maryam and the people of the province, “we express solidarity with Indian Punjab, particularly our Sikh brothers and sisters, who have suffered unprecedented damage due to floods.”
Speaking on Gujrat’s sewerage system, she said: “Despite spending billions, there is still no proper sewerage system. The PML-N will complete this project.”
She said zero tolerance had been adopted against hoarding and price hike of wheat and bread. Confiscated wheat would be brought into the market to stabilise prices, she added.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2025