May 11, 2007	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1428

MANSEHRA, May 10: Displaced families living in tent villages of Jabba and Siren have refused to evacuate their present abode until the government pays them the compensation amount of Rs 75,000.

An elderly refugee said: "We do not have an alternative place to live as our land and houses were washed away in the earthquake. If the government wants to have the tent villages evacuated then they must pay us the compensation amount."

Speaking to this correspondent, the president of the Custodian Committee for the Rights of the Displaced Families of the Jabba tent village, Abdul Rehman, said that the NWFP government was playing a game with us as the district coordinator officer (DCO) and the district nazim for Mansehra had declared on April 24 that until the compensation amount of Rs 75,000 was not paid to displaced families, they would not be asked to evacuate the tent villages.

He said that the DCO has now issued notices to all displaced families to evacuate the tent villages by May 18, which is against the government’s earlier announcement.

He said that 435 displaced families were still living in Jabba and 133 in the Siren tent village and most of them were landless and vulnerable.

He said that out of 435 displaced families living in the Jabba tent village, 80 families had not received even the first instalment of Rs 25,000, and added that the cheques for the compensation amount of 50 families had been blocked while the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority had been missing the record of 150 families.

He said that on Friday an important meeting of the displaced families of Jabba and Siren tent villages would be held to decide the future plan of action.

Official Sources said that the Siren tent village would be wound up by May 18 as according to the Land Verification Unit there was no landless or vulnerable family living there.

Sources said that out of 435 displaced families of the Jabba tent village 230 were landless and only 33 were vulnerable, adding that these displaced families would be sent back to their native villages before July 30, 2007.