Floods: ECC approves emergency grant of Rs540m for utility stores

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet has approved Rs540 million for Utility Stores Corporation (USC) to ensure supply of essential commodities in flood-hit areas, ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to details, the ECC meeting – chaired by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail – approved an emergency grant of Rs540 million for utility stores to ensure supply of essential commodities in flood-hit areas.

The meeting also allowed supply of PASSCO’s wheat among all recipients with a ratio of 50 percent each local and imported. However, USC will be provided 75 percent local and 25 percent imported wheat.

The forum approved Rs3 billion for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to meet expenditure on rescue, relief and rehabilitation of calamity-stricken populations across Pakistan.

Approval was also granted to funding requirements of over one Rs1 billion for running cost and salary of the staff of three Pakistani hospitals in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the ECC also allowed Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to initiate the process for import of 300,000 metric tons of Urea on government to government basis for the upcoming Rabi season.

A day earlier, the National Disaster and Management Authority (NDMA) shared that at least 18 more people lost their lives in the last 24 hours from monsoon spell and floods in the country with Sindh province among the worst affected.

The NDMA report shared that out of 18 deaths, 14 were reported in Sindh, two in Punjab and one each in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The overall death toll has reached 1,343 while 12,720 people were injured in the flooding,” it said.