PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa relief, rehabilitation and settlement department has amended its regulations in cases where bodies are not recovered or burnt beyond recognition to enable families to receive compensation money without any difficulty.

In this respect, the department had on Jan 16 notified an amendment to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Relief Compensation Regulations, 2019.

A senior official told Dawn that the amendment was necessitated due to the fact that the existing compensation policy required a certificate for establishing death.

He said the July 2019 boat capsize incident in Tarbela Dam, where about 20 bodies were never recovered, showed that there needed to be a separate mechanism to pay compensation money to the families where the body was either not recovered or charred beyond recognition in bomb blasts or fire incidents. He said the amendment had addressed this lacuna.

The amendment provides for issuance of certificates by a local nazim and elders, a certification from concerned police station’s in-charge, testimony on judicial paper by legal heirs or recipients of compensation to the satisfaction of deputy commissioner or district disaster management unit, would be used instead of death certificate in case the body is not recovered or burnt beyond recognition.

In addition to this, the department has also notified an amendment in KP Civilian Victims Compensation Regulations, 2019, to provide mechanism for distribution of compensation amount between owner and tenants of commercial properties.

“The distribution of compensation between the owner and the tenant shall be made equally for damaged shops,” it said.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2020