PESHAWAR: Civil Secretariat Fata is set to start payment of compensation to the internally displaced persons, whose houses were damaged in militancy, after receiving Rs5 billion from the federal government.

Under the package, Rs 400,000 would be provided to the owners of completely damaged houses while Rs160,000 would be given to each owner of the partially damaged houses.

Over two million civilians, displaced from Fata due to militancy and subsequent military action, are living miserable life in tents and rented houses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country. Majority of the IDPs belong to North Waziristan, Khyber and South Waziristan agencies.

An official statement issued here on Sunday said that Civil Secretariat Fata had received first installment of Rs5 billion, allocated for the return and rehabilitation of IDPs. Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan chaired a meeting to review progress on the development package.

The meeting was informed that development programme had been devised for the repatriation and rehabilitation of tribal people, who were displaced during the recent military operations against the terrorists.

To prepare estimates of the damage in a transparent way, a committees consisting of the local political administration, personnel of the law enforcement agencies as well as local tribesmen had been set up.

The meeting was informed that local committees established in the agencies had so far started survey in North Waziristan, South Waziristan, and Khyber agencies.

Survey has been completed in Shalobar and Qamberkhel araes of Bara, Khyber Agency while the process was underway in Tirah valley. Teams were preparing estimates of the damages. After finalising the survey, provision of financial assistance to all effected people would be started.

The statement said that Fata Disaster Management Authority had distributed 390 shelter repair kits, 470 roof kits and 65 shelters in Tirah valley while 18,000 more roof kits would be distributed soon in Tirah.

On the governor directives, work on the Rs 3.5 billion development package for the remote areas of Tirah Fata IDPs to be compensated for damaged houses was in progress and this far flung area would be linked with the other areas.

A blacktopped road had been constructed to link Bagh Maidan area of Tirah with Daboori in Orakzai Agency that indicated level of development, the statement said. Moreover, 16 kilometres portion of the road had been completed while work on 40 kilometres portion was in progress.

The statement said that work on Bagh Maidan-Haider Kundaw road was also in progress to link Tirah valley with Kurram Agency. It would be completed soon.

It said that 200 Levies personnel had been recruited for Tirah. Besides opening of schools and health institutions, financial assistance was also being provided to the private schools through Fata Education Foundation.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2015

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