Quake victims still suffer as Centre, K-P trade blame

Over 55% of projects are still incomplete even after passage of 11 years

BALAKOT: There is no end in sight of the sufferings of over 5,000 Balakot families which were adversely affected in the October, 2005 earthquake as the Centre and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government continue to blame each other for delayed reconstruction and rehabilitation of the worst-hit area.

Affected communities of the area, other than those living in the red zone, are equal victims of negligence as over 55% of projects of health, education, irrigation, water supply, roads and government buildings, are still incomplete exposing them to multiple problems of accessing services they are entitled to.



“We have applied every option aiming to convince rulers for our rehabilitation but failed as residents of Balakot have never figured in the priority list of the rulers,” said Mian Altaf, a member of Balakot district council while talking to The Express Tribune. He said earthquake victims met K-P CM Pervez Khattak and even the PTI chief Imran Khan but they all pushed our requests under the rug.

He claimed that the PTI chief had been making tall claims of changing Pakistan but had failed to reclaim illegally occupied 4,000 kanals of land in New Bakriyal City (NBC) and to rehabilitate 5,400 families of the red zone during the last three years of his party’s government in the province.

Commenting on the situation, Qazi Sadiq, a member of tehsil council Balakot, said whenever they started reconstruction of their homes the Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) officials stopped them saying that it was the red zone where construction of every kind was banned.

“Authorities are unable to complete plotting and development in New Bakriyal City during the last 11 years and the affectees are huddled up in 20x20 shelters with six to eight children in each family and these shelters have also exhausted their age,” Sadiq said. Commenting on the situation, District Nazim Sardar Said Ghulam accused the ERRA of poor performance and corruption. He said it had sidelined the elected representatives from the area and started monitoring on its own, resulting in misuse of funds and delay in reconstruction.



“Had they not taken solo flight and engaged the local government representatives the situation would have been different now and thousands of yet to be resettled families would have been in their homes”, he claimed.

To a question, he said instead of blame game the government should task the district and tehsil administration with reconstruction and rehabilitation of affected families and structure with financial autonomy.

When approached, the NBC Project Director Colonel (retd) Abrar said the project was scheduled to be completed by 2010 but it has been delayed due to paucity of funds and lack of cooperation on the part of provincial government that has failed to get the ERRA possession of land from illegal occupants. He said 1,500 plots measuring 10 marlas were ready for allotment, 15km road network with 100% sewerage lines had completed in C and D sectors, two primary schools for girls and boys were near completion while roads measuring 49km are pending. “Over 300 affected families have received entitlement certificates of the plots and over 100 have started construction work,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2016.