MANSEHRA, May 8: Thousands of earthquake survivors on Tuesday took out a procession and blocked the main road in Balakot in protest against, what they called, cruel policies of the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) and the Sarhad Rural Support Programme.

They said the Erra had failed to rehabilitate the quake-hit areas and to provide shelter to the affected families. They demanded the immediate removal of Erra deputy chairman Lt-Gen Nadeem Ahmad.

They threatened to hold more protest demonstrations if Erra did not provide compensation to quake survivors for building their houses soon.

Carrying banners and placards, the protesters blocked the Hassa bridge and burnt tyres.

Speaking on the occasion, union nazims Munir Lughmani, Ehteshamul Haq and Mian Ziaur Rehman and others criticised the slow pace of rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the quake-hit areas.

They said that due to high prices of the construction material and rising labour cost, quake survivors found it difficult to rebuild their houses according to Erra’s specifications as they were paid just Rs170,000.

They said 19,000 families had halted rebuilding their houses after Erra and the SRSP had stopped payment of compensation to them.

The protesters also accused the government of adopting a discriminatory attitude towards people of the most affected areas, saying it had earmarked Rs8 billion for Shangla although, they claimed, the district was not affected much by the earthquake.