Alkhidmat’s Rs600m aid for building houses in flood-hit people 

The Al Khidmat Foundation under its Tameer-e-Watan Programme to reconstruct destroyed houses in the flood-affected areas has kicked off spending an estimated budget of Rs600 million.

According to a handout released on Thursday, the foundation initially issued funds to another 100 homeless families to rebuild their houses in Taunsa Tehsil of Dera Ghazi Khan. 

Primarily a target of 4,000 houses will be completed and one and a half lakh rupees have been allocated for one unit of house construction in the first phase, in South Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. 

People would be provided with construction materials (GI sheets, Iron T-Garder along with essential funds for the purchase of blocks, bricks etc). 

The foundation would issue the amount in three instalments by depositing it in the affected family's bank account to ensure reporting, monitoring and auditing of the home support scheme. 

Earlier, it engaged the experts who had conducted surveys in the flood-hit and compiled a report on where the houses needed to be rebuilt. 

While priority is being given to orphans and widows, followed by labourers and small landowners, Alkhidmat is accepting applications from all the people who have lost their homes. Alkhidmat Foundation so far has completed the construction and repair of 120 houses in South Punjab province.

Bakhtu Mai, a widow from Nadi South, who participated in the event called to issue cheques, said she has four children whom she is supporting with great difficulty. The family's life became more difficult as the house collapsed due to rains and mudslides.

The foundation team’s relief and rehab efforts mean a lot to flood survivors, she added.  

The foundation has also provided seeds, fertilizers and agricultural medicines to 500,000 farmers for sowing wheat, the main crop of Rabi, besides helping in the construction of houses. 

It has also made a plan to restore two hundred schools, madrasas and mosques at the initial level. so far the foundation spent 10 billion rupees on rescue and relief activities. Currently, it is running rehabilitation and reconstruction projects worth 5 billion rupees.