MUZAFFARGARH: The Punjab government suspended from services the Muzaffargarh assistant commissioner, a tehsildar, a naib tehsildar, a qanoongo and a revenue patwari on Friday for delaying compensation payments to flood victims and their alleged corruption in the process.

District government sources said AC Rana Aftab, who was posted in Muzaffargarh three months back, and four other revenue officials were suspended from services after hundreds of flood victims held a hours-long road blockade against the officials on Thursday.

The other suspended officials are Tehsildar Sahibzada Zaffar Maharvi, Naib Tehsildar Muzaffar Shah, Qanoongo Asghar and Patwari Malik Aftab.

Flood victims allege flaws in compensation disbursement

The protesters who blocked main roads leading to Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan alleged revenue officials were demanding bribe from them for including their names in the lists of proposed beneficiaries of compensation for crop and house damages.

They said federal and provincial governments had allocated billions for the people affected by the River Chenab flooding in August but during surveys, the revenue patwari demanded a Rs10,000 graft for each name to be included on the list.

The residents of Kangan Shumali and Kangan Janobi mauzas told reporters they had reported the matter to top district administration officials but no one listened to them.

Under the Punjab government compensation plan, each farmer was to get Rs10,000 per acre and Rs80,000 for house damage. The revenue patwari, however, had hired middlemen to manage bribe from the affected families, alleged Salman Khan of Kangan Shumali.

He said he had approached the Dera Ghazi Khan commissioner and the district coordination officer but no action was taken against them.

DCO Hafiz Shoukat Ali made inquiry teams to probe into the matter after the protest. He also ordered suspension of Patwari Aftab and banned the entry of the AC in the mauza.

The DCO told Dawn thousands of flood victims had got compensation from the government and he had set up six centres to facilitate 75,000 people. An emergency cell was working under District Officer Coordination Karim Bakhsh, he said, adding those who were not included in the lists would be reviewed by a special team working under the ADC.

Talking to Dawn, AC Rana Aftab said he was transferred on Thursday but on Friday he received his suspension letter while Tehsildar Maharvi said he would face inquiry teams because his work was transparent. He said though he was pressured by some PML-N politicians to include their recommended names in the list who were not among affected people, but he refused them out and out.

Naib Tehsildar Muzaffar Shah was suspended by the Dera Ghaz Khan commissioner and Patwari Aftab was suspended by the DCO on the orders of the Punjab government.

The DCO said a case had been registered against the patwari soon he would be behind the bars while others would face inquiry.

Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2014