October 10, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 27, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: An alliance of non-governmental organisations from NWFP on Tuesday urged the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) to review its rebuilding policy.

The Hazara Awami Ittehad, a conglomerate of local NGOs from districts Abbotabad, Battagram, Mansehra and Kohistan in a “citizens’ charter of demands” called for immediate withdrawal of conditionalities attached with the housing subsidy.

In a press release here, the Hazara Awami Ittehad and Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation said two separate surveys were conducted by Erra to assess damage to houses in the quake-hit areas, which were completed towards the end of 2006. Numerous complaints were made about houses left out by the survey, and a multiple documentation requirements it imposed on survivors.

It said the funds disbursement started entailing more hardships following the survey. Survivors made repeated trips to Erra and its related organisations to trace their cases. Many houses surveyed were relegated to the category of no-record due to poor data management. After completing tedious documentation procedures, eligible claimants chased subsidy amounts at banks which often took up to four to six months for transferring of funds.

It alleged that many of those fed up with the cumbersome and complicated procedures opted to bypass it by paying bribes. According to many survivors, the size of subsidy was insufficient to begin with. Additionally, the cost of accessing it was much higher than the subsidy, causing significant loss to the survivors.

Concerns were also expressed about government’s rehabilitation priorities. According to a research conducted by Omar Asghar Khan Foundation, 30 per cent of rehabilitation funds in district Abbottabad were allocated to union councils that had experienced less than one per cent damage.

Union councils that bore the brunt of the quake with an estimated damage of 70 per cent have also received about 30 per cent of total rehabilitation funds allocated for district Abbottabad.

The pace of rehabilitation work was also severely criticised. It was pointed out that according to the Erra figures, full amount of subsidy was given to five per cent eligible claimants. “If it continues with the same pace, it will take another 35 months, or nearly three more years for completing the disbursement of housing subsidy to all eligible claimants. It said the pace of other rehabilitation work was also a cause of concern.”