KP Assembly completes debate on post-earthquake situation

PESHAWAR: The opposition members demanded increase in compensation amount and resurvey to assess the damage as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly completed debate on the post-earthquake situation on Friday.
Winding up the debate, Minister for Public Health Engineering Shah Farman told the House the relief operation had been completed in one month and almost all the victims had been paid by November 26. “This showed the efficiency of the government and the relevant agencies,” he added.
The minister said both the federal and provincial governments didn’t politicise this natural disaster by avoiding point-scoring as they concentrated on providing relief to the affectees.
Responding to the opposition’s argument that the compensation for the damaged houses was inadequate, he said the government adopted a realistic approach so that timely payment could be made to the affectees. He pointed out that Rs200,000 were being paid to those whose houses were completely damaged and 100,000 for every partially damaged house.
He challenged the opposition to pinpoint any irregularity as complete list of payment of compensation to the victims was available.
Earlier, Dr Haider Ali of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), Mufti Fazal Ghafoor of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha, and Sardar Zahoor and Rishad Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took part in the debate.
The legislators expressed dissatisfaction at the role of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).They said the affectees had to stay under the open sky without tents, blankets and food items as the relief agencies had failed to reach the affected areas in time.
They complained that many deserving people had been ignored in the damage assessment survey. There referred to reports of nepotism and lack of medicines and treatment facilities in Shangla and Buner.
The lawmakers called for establishing the offices of the PDMA at the district or divisional level. However, almost all of them appreciated the prime minister, chief minister and army authorities for the quick response and visits to the affected areas.
The members condemned the attack on Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader and federal Minister for Housing and Works Akram Khan Durrani in Bannu and said it happened due to security failure.
Mufti Janan and Shah Hussain of the JUI-F, Syed Jafar Shah of the Awami National Party (ANP), Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha of the PML-N, PTI’s Shah Muhammad Khan, Bakht Baidar of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and Senior Minister Inayatullah Khan of the Jamaat-i-Islami condemned the attack.
They said they were united against terrorism and sabotage activities. The lawmakers said nobody was safe including ministers, MPAs and political leaders.However, they said after the Zarb-e-Azb Operation and National Action Plan the situation had improved to a great extent even though the threats still existed.
The House prayed for those killed and injured in the Bannu attack. It also adopted two resolutions moved by Mehmood Jan of the PTI. Through one resolution the federal government and Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs was asked to take notice of the private hajj tour operators as they were charging high fee but providing poor accommodation and travel facilities. The resolution asked the government to make arrangements for the hajj and save the pilgrims from exploitation at the hands of the private operators.
The resolution said the government should abolish the Hajj quota of private operator. It was signed by Arbab Akbar Hayat, Syed Jafar Shah, Munawar Khan, Bakht Baidar and Abdul Muneem Khan.
Through another resolution, the regularisation of services of ad hoc doctors was demanded.Salim Khan from the PPP on a call attention notice drew the attention of the House toward heavy snowfall in Broghal valley in Chitral district. He said there was an acute shortage of food and medicines in the area.
The MPA from Chitral demanded immediate supply of food and other necessary items for the residents of the valley.Senior Minister Inayatullah assured the House that the government would take immediate steps for supplying food and other relief items to the residents of the affected valley.
Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha raised the issue of deputy speaker and pointed out that the post had been lying vacant for about 15 months. The government has set a record of running one session for more than a year, he remarked.
The legislator requested the speaker to announce schedule for the election of the deputy speaker post election or else the opposition would be forced to stage protest against the unprecedented delay.
Speaker Asad Qaiser told the House that the matter had already been sent to the governor and nomination papers for the post would be submitted on December 21 and election would be held on the 22 of the next month.He adjourned the session for November 30.