When his house was swept away in the floods, Khan Zaman, who hails from Dera Ismail Khan, lost all hope of ever rebuilding it but this hope was rekindled when the government announced rehabilitation assistance.
However, five months have passed and Zaman still has not received a cash disbursement. Zaman, who is a taxi driver by profession, lives in the Kech area of Dera Ismail Khan and since he cannot afford to rebuild his house, he along with his family is forced to spend the winter outdoors. The 36-year-old, while talking to The Express Tribune, said, “five months have passed since the provincial government announced Rs 400,000 would be given to flood victims to rebuild their houses but I have not even received a penny yet.” However, Zaman is not alone in this plight.
“Around 80 houses were completely destroyed by the floods in our village and none have received the promised money.” He alleged that those that had contacts with patwaris and the local revenue officials were included in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government’s cash disbursement survey list even though they were not harmed by the floods. “Resultantly, deserving people have been deprived of government assistance,” Zaman lamented. Similarly, Tahseen Ullah, a resident of Charsadda, has also been waiting for five months. “We have been living in a rented house for the past three months in the hope that the money promised by the government will come soon.
However, those whose houses were barely damaged have received the money but we are yet to get anything.” Provincial Disaster Management Authority’s Spokesperson, Taimur Khan, when asked about the delay in compensation for flood affectees, said that some payments were still being processed. “52,653 flood-affected houses were surveyed in K-P, out of which 49,188 houses were found destroyed. According to the survey report, 43,927 houses were approved for compensation. So far, 28,701 flood victims’ accounts have been opened, in which more than Rs 3 billion has been disbursed. We will give cheques to the remainder once the verification process is complete,” Khan explained.
Not enough assistance
On the other hand those who have received assistance are having a hard time rebuilding their houses in Rs 400,000. One such person is Nawaz, who hails from the Madin area in Swat.
“I received the government’s compensation three months ago but there is little I can do with it. Cement and other building materials are so expensive given the inflation that the cash disbursement can only be used to construct a room at best,” said Nawaz. A local contractor from Peshawar, Tariq, concurring with Nawaz’s assessment, said that Rs 400,000 was mere pennies given the inflation levels.
“Currently, steel costs Rs 200,000 per ton and a sack of cement costs Rs 1,000. The cash disbursement is not even enough to build a room let alone a house.”
Bamboo houses
Since steel and cement cost an arm and a leg, philanthropists in the Gara Rehman village of Dera Ismail Khan, have started building houses with bamboo. These small houses are made with a mixture of wood, bamboo, and mud and can house a family of four. In this regard, K-P’s Minister for Local Governments, Faisal Amin Gandapur, said that bamboo houses could be built in 25 days and that is what philanthropists and the government was focusing on for now so that people could have a roof over their heads in the winters. “One such unit costs Rs 250,000 and can be built without much hassle. We have built 12 units already and 15 more are on the way,” informed Gandapur while talking to The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2023.
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