LAHORE
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has declared calamity-hit districts where 40 per cent damage has been caused to villages by the flood.
The CM said this while presiding over a joint meeting of Cabinet Committee on Flood and Cabinet Committee on Price Control, on Friday. Besides relief and rehabilitation activities, the meeting also reviewed prices of essential items.
The chief minister said that compensation to the affected people would be paid soon. He said that recent flood was one of the biggest in the history of the province and had caused serious damage. However, he said, the government launched a speedy rescue and relief operation for the calamity-hit people which was still continuing.
Shahbaz Sharif said that after rescue operation, there is a need to pay attention to relief and rehabilitation activities and all concerned departments should perform their responsibilities with commitment. S hahbaz Sharif said that survey of damages to property, houses and crops should be transparent and authentic and satellite images should also be used for correct assessment of losses in the devastated areas. He directed that all preventive measures should be adopted to control outbreak of viral diseases in the affected areas and spray should also be conducted for this purpose.
The chief minister said that besides administering polio drops and vaccination of children against measles, steps should also be taken against other diseases in the flood-hit areas. He said that the work of rehabilitation of roads and infrastructure should be undertaken on war footing.  Issuing instructions for setting up committees at district and divisional level for early rehabilitation of infrastructure, he directed that provincial steering committee headed by the chief secretary should supervise all this process.  He further directed that the committee should hold a meeting on weekly basis to review rehabilitation activities while he would also preside over a meeting of the committee for monitoring rehabilitation activities. He directed that a comprehensive planning be made and recommendations should be submitted to him regarding drainage of water from the areas which are still inundated especially the nearby villages of Trimmu and Jhang and immediate measures should be proposed so as to adopt preventive measures for the future. 
Shahbaz Sharif said that job opportunities could be provided to rural population by utilising the services of the youth in the rehabilitation activities in the affected districts and a comprehensive plan should be evolved for this purpose.  He said that the process of payment to sugarcane growers by sugar mills has been started in Jhang and directed that it should be completed as soon as possible.  The meeting was informed that helicopters made a total of 338 sorties during the rescue and relief operation conducted by the Punjab government and distributed three lakh 63 kilogram ration, relief items and packets of food among the distressed people during their 377 hours long flights. Similarly, 392 persons were shifted to safer places.
Saeed speaks of Indian
water war: 
JuD Amir Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said on Friday that India has resorted to water terrorism against Pakistan. He made these comments while addressing the Friday sermon at Jamia Al-Qudsia, saying that recent disaster was the result of unconditional and one-sided friendship with India which had always considered Pakistan its enemy.  
Hafiz Saeed said a large of number of innocent Pakistanis had died, and crops, property and cattle worth billions of rupees had been washed away but the government, unfortunately, was displaying silence. He said that the recent flood was not a natural calamity but amounted to water aggression by India.  The JD chief said that the government should make serious efforts to counter water terrorism strategy of India, otherwise it would continue to make such attacks on Pakistan.
 “India deliberately accumulate water in its dams and then releases it at once during the rainy season to ensure disastrous flood in Pakistan,” said Hafiz Saeed regretting that Pakistan’s economy was mostly based on agriculture and India was destroying it.  Hafiz Saeed also urged the politicians to set aside their political differences and join hands for rescue and relief of poor flood victims. He said Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation of Jaamat-ud-Dawah was actively involved in rescue and relief operations in all flood-hit areas and providing food, drinking water and other relief goods to victims besides transporting them and their goods to dry areas. He said that Jaamat-ud-Dawah would help flood victims in reconstruction of their houses, for which survey had also been done in several areas. Hafiz Saeed made an appeal to the general public to come forward and help since the flood disaster was too big to be copped by the government alone. He said he had himself visited the flood-hit areas and situations was highly miserable there.
“Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has said that Muslims are like one person; if his one body part aches, the whole body aches,” JuD Amir added.   The JuD chief said that it was not the time to fight for the personal interests or political gains, rather it was the time to jointly work for rescuing and rebuilding Pakistan. Hafiz Saaed said that the government should immediately take steps to end the illegal occupation of India on Pakistani waters through dams. He said that India was making electricity of from their waters and then using it as weapon for terrorism.