Watan Cards launched to compensate flood survivors

Watan Cards are a scheme for the rehabilitation of flood survivors.

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has launched Watan Cards, a scheme for the rehabilitation of flood survivors, and distributed Rs20,000 each among families affected by the floods.

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will issue Watan Cards to survivors, who will be able to receive Rs20,000 from special NADRA counters using the cards.

“The government is fulfilling its promise by giving this initial assistance,” said Shah, at the distribution ceremony in Public School Sukkur on Wednesday. In the next phase, the affected families will receive an additional Rs100,000 for the reconstruction of their houses, he added.

Shah said that the distribution is being carried out through cards issued by NADRA to ensure transparency. Moreover, the process is also being monitored by the Asian Development Bank and World Bank.

Despite the caution, it is expected that some families will end up receiving Rs40,000, twice the assigned amount, because of doubling in the registration carried out by NADRA, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Several people are registered in more than one relief camp and can, therefore, claim compensation twice. “My brother has registered himself in Thehri relief camp in Khairpur, while I am registered at a relief camp in Sukkur,” said Reham Ali Bijarani, who hails from Karampur in Kandhkot district. Both brothers lived in the same house before the floods came.

The DCO Sukkur was not available to comment on the registration procedures in Sukkur.

However, NADRA spokesperson Naveed Baig, said that the authority planned the procedure for transparent registration of the internally displaced persons with the government.

“Rs11.72 million have already been distributed among survivors in Karachi, Thatta and Badin,” he said.

At the Razzaqabad camp, around 1,512 families have been registered, while 2,100 families have been registered in other areas of Karachi. Registration of families for Watan Cards has started at the Gulshan-e-Maymer camp and around 1,150 families have been registered by now, said Baig.

In Badin, around 165 families were registered by Tuesday and an addition 150 families were on Wednesday. NADRA has so far issued around 45,000 cards to flood survivors in relief camps across Karachi and Thatta.

According to the spokesperson, the procedure is such that the survivors will go to the information counter, located at the designated Verification and Card Issuance site. Here they will get their computerised national identity card (CNIC) validated from the beneficiary list. Once the cards are proven to be valid, a registration form will be issued to the survivor and their CNIC number will be entered on the form.

The operator will also add a reference ID on the form after taking fingerprints and a photo at the Biometric Counter while all requisite details will be entered on the form at the form filling counters.

At the counter, the bank will issue the applicant’s Watan Card, which will be operational after a verification of credentials from the NADRA database. Baig added that the World Bank and UNHCR are working with NADRA in this venture.

CM Sindh visits Bhuttos’ shrine

Shah also paid a visit to the graves of the Bhutto family in Garhi Khuda Baksh on Wednesday. He was accompanied by MPA Ghulam Mujadid Isran, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Larkana District Vice President Khair Muhammad Shaikh, PPP District General Secretary Abdul Fateh Bhutto, Muhammad Amin Mengal, Naseebaan Channa, Ghulam Asghar Shaikh, DIG Police Din Muhammad Balouch, DPO Irfan Balouch, DCO Abdul Aleem Lashari and other officials.

Addition input from APP

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2010.