KP Assembly witnesses heated debate on relief and rehabilitation activities

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday witnessed a heated debate on the relief operation in the October 26 earthquake affected areas as the opposition expressed dissatisfaction at the slow pace of rehabilitation activities.
Since a one-point agenda was fixed for the day, Syed Jaffar Ali Shah of the Awami National Party (ANP) kicked off the debate. He said affectees in his constituency were forced to migrate to other areas due to damaged infrastructure.
The legislator said students had to sit under the open sky over snow in the valley as school buildings had been damaged. Terming compensation amount inadequate, he said the Rs200,000 compensation for a destroyed house was too meager to construct a bathroom, let alone a house.
Bakht Baidar of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) complained of injustice in the damage assessment survey. He said many affectees were ignored and only a few hundreds were provided relief, claiming the actual number was high.
The lawmaker said the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) should brief the assembly members over the relief and compensation process.
He thanked the prime minister and chief minister for their quick response and visits to the quake-hit areas, but said the survey was not satisfactory and should be re-conducted.
Zarin Gul of the ANP also demanded conducting of a fresh survey. He said in Torghar district of the Hazara Division eight union councils were severely damaged. He said the district should be provided a special relief package.
The lawmaker said the schools destroyed in the October 2005 earthquake were not yet reconstructed. He asked the government to permit timber movement in the district for the reconstruction of affected houses. He suggested a PDMA cell should be opened at the district-level.
Taking part in the debate, the opposition leader in the assembly Maulana Lutfur Rahman said the government and departments lacked the capability to respond quickly and tackle natural calamities. He said a lack of coordination between the federal and provincial governments was observed in the post-quake situation. He urged early restoration of health and education institutions.
The opposition leader complained that the Mufti Mehmood Public School and College, an institution spread over 100 kanals of land, was running without a permanent principal. It, he said, belied the government claim about education emergency.
Sahibzada Sanaullah of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in his maiden speech in the assembly after taking oath last month also complained of nepotism in the survey. He accused the local administration of ignoring the deserving people.
The legislator said the PDMA provided only 200 tents while 4,000 houses were damaged in his constituency.In Upper Dir, he added, 12,643 houses were damaged but the PDMA provided only 3,400 tents, he said.
Sahibzada Sanaullah complained that the local administration accepted only 200 affectees claims out of 843 and rejected the remaining because of lack of pictures of the damaged house.
The lawmaker also complained that 11 seriously injured persons from his constituency who were shifted to Peshawar were not properly treated for three days, who were admitted by the hospital administrator whom he met. He warned of protest if the grievances of affectees were not removed.
Salim Khan of the PPP demanded resurvey and said the actual number of damaged houses was very high. He claimed 400 houses were fully damaged and 16,000 partially in Chitral. He also called for opening Rescue 1122 service in the district and said the PDMA should have a helicopter for rescue operation.
Abdul Muneem from Shangla supported the demand for increase of the compensation amount, but said the critics should know that the last government paid Rs175,000 for fully damaged houses and that too in installments.
Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz appreciated the coordination between federal and provincial governments. He said both the set ups did not do point scoring over the disaster.
Responding to the points raised by the opposition members, Senior Minister Inayatullah said the response to the earthquake was exemplary as the schools and other buildings destroyed in the 2005 quake were yet to be constructed.
He said the damage assessment process had been completed in one week and compensation paid within a month. He said the compensation payment process would end on the 26th of this month.
Rejecting complaints about the shortcomings in the survey, the minister said the army, district administration and elected representatives had conducted the survey.
The debate was going on when the speaker adjourned the session for Friday.