Quake survivors protest delay in allotment of plots

MANSEHRA: The survivors of red zone at Balakot staged a rally to protest the delay in allotment of plots at the New Balakot City housing project and threatened to stage a sit-in on August 14 for an indefinite period.

“We are fed up with the claims being made by both the federal and provincial governments since 2009 to remove hurdles in smooth execution of the New Balakot City project. Nothing practical is being done and we are still living a miserable life in shelter houses donated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia following the 2005 earthquake,” Sardar Hussain, a councillor of Balakot neighbourhood committee, told the rally on Monday.

The people belonging to red zone of Balakot and Garlat union councils took out a rally from the Kaghan Road, which culminated outside the police stations after marching through various roads.

They announced to stage a sit-in at Ayub Bridge in Balakot on August 14 this year against delay in completion of New Balakot City housing project. The demonstrators, holding banners and placards, raised slogans against the federal and provincial governments and also held local lawmakers responsible for their ordeals.

Sardar Hussain said then president Pervez Musharraf initiated New Balakot City housing project to settle them there with an estimated cost of Rs13 billion, but successive governments after him could not complete the project and over 4,000 families suffered the brunt of it.

“Our small shelters houses donated by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have been broken and smashed but New Balakot City meant to settle us is in the doldrums,” he said. Mohammad Zaheer, while speaking on the occasion, said local lawmakers were also not serious in smooth execution of the New Balakot City project.

“A standing committee of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has ordered expulsion of local illegal occupants from site of this mega project, Bakrial, but it also failed to come up to expectations of survivors,” said Mohammad Zaheer. He also invited all political parties to join them at their sit-in on August 14 at Ayub Bridge in Balakot this year, saying that political leaders and rulers usually come to express solidarity with the affected families on the anniversaries of the 2005 earthquake but later forget them for the entire year.