October 29, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 29, 1429

PESHAWAR, Oct 28: Lack of coordination between the government and donor agencies was hampering relief activities at the camps set up for the internally displaced persons of Bajaur tribal region, sources said.

“The Relief Coordination Committee for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), notified by the chief secretary, includes secretaries of education, health, local government and other departments but most of them either don’t attend its meetings or send their subordinates to represent them,” sources said.

The ninth meeting of the committee held on Monday, with provincial relief commissioner in the chair, was no exception as administrative secretaries didn’t attend it, they added. According to sources, lack of interest by top officials in the deliberations of the committee has been delaying the urgent tasks about providing relief to IDPs.

Sources said that the committee could not get land near Jalozai camp where all IDPs from all the camps except Kacha Garhi would be shifted. They said that they desperately needed the land for the camp at Jallozai because camps in Mardan, Dir, Charsadda and Risalpur were temporary arrangements and didn’t have the facilities.

“This needs prompt action by the government. We cannot take lead role. We can provide only technical and financial support. The government departments are required to sign an agreement with the land owner in Jalozai to pave the way for the establishment of the camp,” said a representative of an international relief body. According to him, the health department was also not willing to assume its leadership role in provision of healthcare facilities to the camps’ inmates.

The apathy of health department could be judged from the story of a pregnant woman, who was taken to Hayatabad Medical Complex last week. During her labour pain, the doctors told her that she didn’t need hospitalisation because she was still to wait for a few days to deliver a baby.

“She was sent back to Kacha Garhi camp where she delivered a baby at midnight. Luckily, there was no complication,” said another official of a relief organisation.

A few weeks ago, an elderly woman from the same camp died when she was refused admission in the same hospital, he said and added that provincial government remained unmoved despite verbal complaints.

According to the structure of the committee, Wapda and police officials were also required to attend the meeting regularly and pursue problems of IDPs. Most of the junior officers who attended the meetings pretended to be not in the know of the proceedings or not authorised to take this or that action, sources added.

The relief commissioner had asked all the departments to send authorised officers to the meetings who could make decisions on the spot and avoid unnecessary delays but the situation was yet to show any signs of improvement, they added.

A few days ago, the provincial governor also asked the members of coordination committee to expedite work and provide more facilities to the camps’ dwellers but his directives also fell on deaf ears.