ABBOTTABAD/SWABI/BAJAUR: Various organisations and welfare bodies in Abbottabad, Swabi and Bajaur have started collecting funds, food and non-food items to help the flood victims.

In Abbottabad, the district police set up a flood relief camp on Sunday and collected Rs1.12 million cash in just one day. Local people, traders and members of the different NGOs are also taking part in the funds collection drive.

On the first day, Provincial Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ghani also participated in the campaign, while Abbottabad DPO Sajjad Khan and deputy commissioner Tariq Salam along with other police officials visited Abbottabad Bazaar to collect donations for the flood-stricken people by going from shop to shop.

They collected cash, blankets, pillows, clothes, bed sheets, flour, sugar, rice, pulses, milk, oil, bakery items, water bottles, utensils, etc. The relief camp has been set up in the parking lot in front of the Cantt police station.

In Swabi, the representatives of various organisations appealed to the residents to come forward and help the flood-hit people in their hour of need.

Leader of Al-Khidmat Foundation, a wing of Jamaat-i-Islami, said that they had been collecting donations, preparing food and providing the same to the affected people while fulfilling their responsibility.

Wajid Ali Shah, the foundation’s district president, told mediapersons that their objective was to ensure prompt provision of food and tents besides financial assistance to the flood victims.

Ishtiaq Ahmed, a member of Sitara Welfare Organisation, said that many people had sent money to the bank account of their organisation for helping the affected people.

The spirit of people shows that rehabilitation of the flood victims will not take long, said Naro Educational Welfare Society president Dr Nasir Khan.

Nooral Amin Yousafzai, member of Swabi Grand Jirga, said that leaders of political parties should work collectively to help the flood-hit people.

Meanwhile, Bajaur Scouts and various charities have established camps for collecting cash donations and other relief goods for the flood-hit people.

The Bajaur Scouts has set up two relief camps near the vegetable market and Lovisam area in Khar tehsil, where scores of people visited on Sunday to give donations for the flood-hit people, according to a statement.

Similarly, the Jamaat-i-Islami’s charity wing, Al-Khidmat Foundation has set up relief camps in different areas of the district.

According to foundation’s leaders, the camps have been established in Khar, Sadiqabad, Inayat Kallay and other bazaars of the district.

They said large number of people visited the camps and donated cash and other valuables for the flood-affected people.

Awami National Party’s Khudai Khidmatgar Tazneem has established relief camps in various bazaars of the district to receive donations for the flood-stricken people.

Talking to Dawn, the body’s chief organiser for Bajaur chapter Dr Ghulam Habib said the camps had been established in Khar, Ragagan, Inayat Kallay, Pashat and Nawagai. He said donations in cash and kind were received at the relief camps.

Similarly, Jibran Welfare Organisation, a private entity, has also arranged relief camps across the district.

Talking to Dawn, Naik Rahman, the association’s chairman, said a large number of people, mostly youths, visited the relief camps to donate cash and goods.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2022