BARA: Residents on Sunday asked the government to launch a survey of the remaining destroyed houses in Akakhel area of the Tirah Valley to compensate the affectees for the losses.
They said they had been facing a host of problems as they had started living in tents after their houses were destroyed during militancy four years ago. The affectees said the militants had affected 98 per cent population in Akakhel tribe.
Talking to The News, Muhammad Farooq Afridi and others said that many houses were reduced to ashes when the militants of the banned outfits set them on fire in 2013.
They maintained that the displaced families came back to Tirah valley four years ago but all infrastructure, including homes and shops, were in ruins there.
“We have been waiting for the last four years for the survey of the destroyed houses but the government has not solved the problem yet,” Muhammad Farooq said, adding now the people were facing the snowy weather which is multiplying their difficulties.
He deplored that the parliamentarians had not visited Akakhel area so far to get an appraisal of the difficulties the people were going through.
“The previous survey team assessed the damages of only influential people in Maidan area of Tirah and left the destroyed houses of the poor people, who are still yearning for compensation,” alleged another elder, Malik Ghaffar.
He added that there was no established mobile tower in this modern era in the area.
“Our families have been living in tents for five years after the displaced persons returned to the Tirah valley in Akakhel as the survey team did not visit the area,” stated another affected person, Younas Afridi.
He said he had sent applications to a number of officials to ask them to conduct a survey of their destroyed houses, but all his requests fell on deaf ears.
The affected people appealed to the government to increase the compensation money to Rs1 million as Rs0.4 million was a very meagre amount.