Say FDMA officials have not released their money for four months. PHOTO: EXPRESS
Tribesmen from NWA had gathered outside Peshawar press club and staged their protest.
Some tribesmen told reporters that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) disaster management authority (FDMA) was supposed to release Rs12,000 for every identity card holder in the agency. However, the authority had not failed to release the funds for the past four months.
Malik Kaloot from the Madakhail tribe of the agency stated that the authority was bound to release funds for around 30,000 people. But despite repeated requests and even visits to the Fata Secretariat where tribesmen met with the concerned officials, the authority had been reluctant to release the funds for some unspecified reasons.
“This money is not provided by the government but by foreign countries to facilitate the war-hit tribesmen who had left homes during the military operation against militants in the agency,” Kaloot told the media.
“Yesterday, when they [the FDMA] came to know that we have decided to tell the media [about the non-payment of grants], payment for a month was released but payment for the remaining four months is still pending.”
Kaloot added that officials kept passing the buck to other officials for delays in releasing the funds with the FDMA officials accusing the political administration of not releasing the money while the political administration has confessed its ignorance in the matter.
Another tribesman alleged that some of the FDMA officials had allegedly parked the money in their own bank accounts to collect the accrued interest on the sum.
“They [officials] are playing with the lives of innocent tribesmen,” another tribesman said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2017.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ