KP govt declares Kohistan,Shangla calamity-hit districts

MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has declared the rain-affected Kohistan and Shangla as calamity-hit districts and announced to compensate the affected families in accordance with an already-approved compensation formula.

“I am here on behalf of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and announce Kohistan and Shangla to be calamity devastated districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The affected families will get compensation money in accordance with an already approved formula for such a situation,” stated Asad Qaiser, the Speaker of the provincial assembly, while addressing a public gathering in Dassu, the headquarters of Kohistan, on Friday.

The speaker, accompanied by chief minister’s advisers Abdul Haq, Abdul Munim Khan, PTI leader Zareen Gul Khan and MPA Shaukat Yousafzai, also took an aerial view of the affected areas in the district.

Qaiser said the KP government was aware of the devastation caused by the recent rains in the district and was also utilising all available resources for rehabilitation of roads and other infrastructure. “We are with you and will never leave you alone at this critical time,” he told a gathering of locals.

The speaker said successive governments had ignored Kohistan since the country came into being but added that now the PTI government would bring the underdeveloped district at par with other developed areas. He also announced that he would take up the rain-related damage of Kohistan on the floor of the provincial assembly.

A former MPA Malik Qadam Khan and Hafizur Rehman told the gathering that Kohistan was the worst hit by recent rains in KP but the government didn’t take the deaths and devastation as a serious matter.

They said over 23 people were still buried under massive mass of earth in Kandia village for the last five days but the government did nothing for their recovery so far.“We want the government to act promptly and recover the bodies of the 23 people,” said Hafizur Rehman.