April 2, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1427

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ABBOTTABAD, April 1: More than 120 families of Balakot have been evicted from the only tent village established by the NWFP government in Havelian after the deadline to close all tent villages in the province expired on March 31.

At least 8,000 earthquake survivors from Balakot, Kohistan, Battagram and Alai were living in the Havelian tent village when the government made the closure notice public. Despite the notice, the Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) chief and the NWFP chief minister had assured that no one would be forced out of the tent villages and pledged that if earthquake survivors wanted to live on there they would be provided all facilities.

Contrary to such assurances, electricity supply to the tent village has been suspended and kitchens have been closed down without considering the requests of earthquake survivors. Since Balakot has been declared a red zone, quake-hit families have no place to live. The government has not provided them with any shelters.

On Saturday, the district government of Abbottabad finally wound up the only tent village established at Banda Saib Khan, Havelian, and sent almost all families who lived there to their ancestral towns.

A spokesman for the district government told journalists here that 1,288 out of a total of 1,350 families had already left the tent village and the remaining families had been asked to leave the village by April 1.

He said that all these families had been provided transportation charges at the rate of Rs2,000 per family along with food rations, tents and other belongings that they had in the tent village. He said that their office would be closed down and no food would be provided to them.

The decision to uproot the tent villages was made following the announcement of the rehabilitation phase by Erra. People living in the “red zone area” have no option except to move to some other places till their fate was decided by the authorities.

Some earthquake victims of Balakot told journalists that all their families had moved to Haripur as Balakot had already been declared a red zone and they were no longer allowed to construct any houses there.

They said that during their stay in the tent village they had been provided everything that they needed. Another earthquake victim Jan Muhammad from Balakot has criticised the decision to abolish the tent village, especially when Balakot had been declared dangerous.

He said that they were forced to leave the tent village and everything was abandoned there. He referred to the schools which had been closed on March 1. He said that the government had yet to acquire any land for those who belonged to the area which had been declared a red zone.

Wali Muhammad, who hails from Bagh, Azad Kashmir, said that he was going to move into a rented house in Havelian city as he didn’t have any land to construct a home in his native village.

Similarly, Javed and Raj Wali of Battagram said that they had been tenants before the earthquake and would not go back to the area where they had nothing left.

Kiran, a student of class 6th, said that her family had decided to shift somewhere in Haripur as the area they belonged to was not fit for residing and had been declared dangerous by the government.

It may be recalled here that at least 4,800 acres of urban area of Balakot comprises the two badly affected union councils of Garlat and Balakot which were declared unsafe for all types of investment and PERA has advised people not to make any solid construction there.

The government is planning to resettle more than 30,000 people in other areas, which will later be known as Balakot model city.