Quake victims pay bribes to receive compensation

40 houses partially damaged in Kormang

SHANGLA:

In the aftermath of the earthquake of October 26, 2015, Shangla was badly affected. To offer compensation to all quake victims, patwaris surveyed the area to collect information about destroyed houses and district administration then started relief operations and distributed cheques. Examination of the process revealed corruption has been taking place in Kormang union council of Besham where revenue officers have been taking bribes from affectees without actually paying them compensation allotted by the government.

A look at initial data collected by revenue officers shows, 25,000 houses were damaged in Shangla and the government provided compensation for 14,000 houses. According to data collected by The Express Tribune, only 40 houses were partially damaged in Kormang and the administration has distributed over 400 cheques. While more cheques than required seemed to have been distributed in Kormang, true affectees still have not received any compensation payment.



Money for cheques

Kormang locals say patwaries take bribes worth Rs20,000 to Rs60,000 from quake survivors before entering their names on the list of people due to receive compensation cheques. Moreover, when patwaris distribute cheques, four or five cheques are listed under a single person’s name.



Speaking to The Express Tribune, Abdul Ghani, one of the earthquake victims, said his house was partially damaged by the earthquake and revenue officer Mohammad Alam asked him to pay Rs60,000 in return for writing his name on the list of people due to receive money from the government. “He told me he will give me three cheques so I paid him the amount he asked me to,” Ghani added.

Another earthquake victim, Afzal, son of Rahimullah and a resident of Kormang, told The Express Tribune he paid Rs20,000 to patwari Mohammad Alam and received Rs100,000 as compensation payment for his partially damaged house. Hafizullah, another resident of Kormang, paid Rs30,000 to Alam.



Zainat Muhammad, also from the same union council, told The Express Tribune he has been living in tents out in the open ever since the calamity. He said snowfall aggravated the misery and his family had not received any compensation from the government. “A month ago, a patwari called Alam and demanded money to enter our names in a list but despite having a master’s degree, I am still jobless and cannot afford to pay a bribe,” he said. Zainat Muhammad added his father was 80 years old and since they did not have any source of income and did not pay a bribe, Alam did not add the family’s name to the list.

Time to probe

When contacted, earthquake relief operations enquiry officer Javed Iqbal said, “We have distributed more than 400 cheques in Kormang union council and if patwaris have taken money in return for compensation payments from quake victims, we will launch an enquiry against them.” He added, “I will take legal action against any revenue officer involved in corruption and inefficiency.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2016.