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| October 15, 2005 | Saturday | Ramzan 10, 1426 |
Relief goods being stolen, say donors
KARACHI, Oct 14: Donors and relief workers have complained of pilferages and mismanagement at the Islamabad airport where aircraft loaded with relief goods have been constantly landing for the past few days.
While the response from within the country and abroad to the sufferings of people was praiseworthy, activities of some unscrupulous elements and lack of determined and coordinated action in the capital were heart-breaking, observed a business leader from Karachi who had taken relief goods for quake victims to Islamabad.
Almost all the aircraft carrying relief are unloaded at the airport and goods are carried in containers to the Chaklala air base where the entire operation is handled by the army and air force. However, during the transit, goods were being stolen, he said, holding that one could see the stolen items on sale in the city’s shops.
“I carried relief goods though a domestic airline and the plane landed at 11am on Thursday, but till late evening the consignment was not cleared by the agent and eventually I had to leave the goods at the airport,” said Shabir Ahmed, chairman of the Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association.
Many other businessmen who took active part in relief operations faced a similar situation, he said. The following morning when the consignment was cleared, many items were missing.
He alleged that agents deliberately delayed clearance to keep the consignment at the airport for the night. Another business leader, Javed Bilwani, told Dawn he had to face a lot of hardship at Islamabad airport and he found that goods were short when the consignment was cleared the following day.
Mr Bilwani urged the president and the prime minister to look into the matter and allow all aircraft carrying relief goods to land at Chaklala air base to avoid any involvement of airline agents or other services.
Mr Shabir Ahmed said he had been invited by the French Ambassador Regis de Belenet to Islamabad to receive 73 tons of relief goods sent by the French government and some NGOs.
A chartered Boeing 747, he said, landed at the civilian airport at around 11 in the morning on Thursday, and two hours were wasted when handling agents fought over issues related to unloading of goods.
He said the French ambassador who was there to supervise the handling of the consignment was kept standing at the airport for a long time.
Even after the dispute over unloading was resolved, he said, the airport authorities did not allow the transfer of the consignment to Chaklala air base and kept it there overnight.
He said that the aircraft had taken eight to 10 hours to reach Karachi from Paris but the transfer of goods to Chaklala from Islamabad took 24 hours.
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