Owners of houses in ex-FATA under army’s use to get rent

K-P govt forms committee to identify title holders to pay them compensation

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement Department has constituted a committee to process rent compensation of private houses which have been under the use of Pakistan Army in tribal districts and frontier regions.

“Pursuance to the 24th Constitutional Amendment and subsequent notification of Establishment & Administration Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regarding merger of FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) with Relief Rehabilitation and Settlement Department the competent authority is pleased to extend notification with the following committee and TORs to process rent compensation of private houses which are under use of Pak Army in the erstwhile Fata agencies (merged districts) and erstwhile FR (sub-divisions) with immediate effect,” the notification read.

According to a notification of the department, copy of which was available with The Express Tribune, deputy commissioner of the respective tribal district will be the chairman of the committee, while assistant commissioners of the district will be its member secretary.

Other members of the rent committee will include executive engineer (XEN) of the Communication and Works Department for the particular district and representative of Pakistan Army.

The notification further said that the deputy commissioner shall identify the total number of houses under use of Pakistan Army in tribal districts and FR and the actual owners of the houses. The revenue department, through land records, will confirm the ownership of all such houses so that the rent goes to the rightful owners.

The owners will enjoy an authentic rent agreement entitling them to payments assessed by official surveyors.

The notification further said the C&W department shall assess the rent of the houses on the basis of standard formula before finalising the rent agreement deed.

Rent agreement will be inked between the title holder of the property and the district administration.

The notification further said that the DC of the respective tribal district will forward the complete case along with required documents to Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) for further processing of the cases.

The documents will include ownership certificate, rent agreement, valid CNIC of the owner, rent assessment certificate issued by C&W department and NOC certificates from representative of Pakistan Army regarding use of the property.

A source in the Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement Department said that the committee will look for the actual owners of the houses in tribal areas and FR which were under the military use.

During militancy and the following operations people had to migrate and become Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Some mistakes occurred in keeping records during the mass exodus of population.

The proposed committee will tally the data and all available records besides verifying the facts from local people to find out the actual owners of the houses to compensate them.

He further said that the process will start in the entire Fata districts as well as in Frontier Region, adding that the owners of the houses under military use will be compensated.

Self-employment scheme

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has decided launched Insaf Rozgar Scheme to generate employment opportunities in the merged tribal districts.

Under the scheme, up to billion rupees will be disbursed in soft loans among men and women of the erstwhile Fata through Bank of Khyber. Going forward, the K-P government will inject another billion rupees in the scheme meant to create self-employment opportunities for enterprising people of the tribal region.

Later on the scheme will be extended across the province for which the K-P government will arrange five billion rupees.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2019.