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ISLAMABAD: The PML-N government is yet to appoint a chairman of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) to oversee ongoing projects in the earthquake affected areas of the country.
The post has been vacant for two years after the resignation of former MNA Hamid Yar Hiraj, in 2013.
Erra was established through an ordinance immediately after the Oct 8, 2005, earthquake and was turned into a permanent body through an act of parliament by the PPP-led coalition government in 2011.
Sources told Dawn that after coming to power, the PML-N government had decided to disband the authority in August 2013, but could not implement the decision due to the statutory cover provided to the authority.
Take a look: Quake survivors want Erra wound up
In November 2014, a cabinet meeting reportedly discussed a plan to “wind up” the authority and transfer its functions, as well as pending projects, to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
But since then, the government has neither moved to wind it up nor appointed its chairman. Sources told Dawn that the inordinate delay in the appointment had begun to take its toll on the working of the authority.
Apart from the absence of a chairman, the authority has been without a deputy chairman since September 2015. The deputy chairman is the chief executive and principal accounting officer of the authority.
Sources told Dawn that the name of a serving general was floated for the post of deputy chairman and has been sent to the PM for approval. Reportedly, there is an understanding between the government and the army that the Erra deputy chairman would come from the military’s engineering corps.
The government was also said to be considering a proposal to convert Erra into the National Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority (NRRA), with a mandate to work across the country in the event of any natural calamity, instead of being limited to KP and AJK. But the proposal has also fallen through.
When contacted by Dawn, former Erra chairman Hamid Yar Hiraj said the government should make up its mind whether to establish a permanent entity or a ministry management which would only deal with disaster and its aftermath.
Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2015
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