Compensation for quake survivors: Opposition flays govt over relief package

PPP leader warns of protest if activities fail to get back on track


Sohail Khattak November 24, 2015
PHOTO: REUTERS

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly opposition members demanded a new survey to assess damages in earthquake-affected areas and ridiculed the value of the compensation package announced earlier.

At the session on Tuesday, Pakistan Peoples Party’s legislator from Upper Dir Sahibzada Sanaullah poked fun, in a calculated address, at the government’s relief activities. He drew attention to the actual needs of the people.

He warned the government of a protest on November 26 against irregularities in distribution of relief goods and the overlooking of genuinely affected people.

“The government should not create problems for itself,” he said. Sanaullah was confident activists of the ruling coalition parties would be part of the demonstration.

Sanaullah gave an example of his own constituency in Upper Dir and quoted figures provided by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). He said 12,683 houses have been damaged in the earthquake in Upper Dir, while only 3,400 tents were distributed which explains the inadequacy of the package.

He also elaborated on the quantity of food items in the package and the number of floor mats distributed between 4,000 owners of damaged houses in his constituency.

“It would be better if the provincial government sent nothing rather than send this meager package,” he said. “The government prides itself on the speed at which the food items were transported, but such a meager quantity would not need heavy trucks or much time to transport,” the PPP leader quipped.

Sanaullah was also unhappy over the requirement to fill out forms to receive the compensation. “My people are very poor and have no access to cameras to take a [high resolution] picture to show proof of their demolished homes.” He said three different forms were distributed to the affected people with various criteria. The first did not require a picture; hundreds of locals filled out the form, said Sanaullah. “Now the document has gone into cold storage at the assistant commissioner house.”



Awami National Party’s Jaffar Shah, resuming his speech from Monday, also slammed the meager amount allocated for compensation.

“You cannot make a washroom in Rs200,000. The amount is shameful for both provincial and federal governments which have to pay the sum jointly,” he said. Shah added people were migrating from Swat to Punjab and pointed out that this presented another conundrum.

The opposition leader, Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam-Fazl’s Maulana Lutufur Rehman, and QWP lawmaker Bakht Baidar Khan also criticised the compensation package.

Responding to the opposition’s onslaught, Senior Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan said, “Never in the history of this country has a government worked this quickly in a single month for the provision of relief.” He added a survey had been completed which was essential to the entire operation.

About the amount given as compensation, he said it had been decided at a meeting with the K-P chief minister and the prime minister in Peshawar. He said it was better to provide prompt relief rather than make big plans or promises. He said 19 non-governmental organisations were issued permits and are working in the affected areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th,  2015.

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