CHITRAL: A member of the district council from Karimabad valley has warned that the local government representatives would resign and launch a protest drive if the authorities concerned didn’t conduct a fresh survey in the earthquake-hit valley.

Mohammad Yaqoob Khan, while addressing a press conference

here on Sunday, said that the earthquake had wreaked havoc in the valley rendering hundreds of people homeless, but the survey teams didn’t include them in the list of affected people, thus depriving them of much-needed compensation.

Member of tehsil council, Mohammad Ali Shah, and others were also present on the occasion.

Yaqoob Khan said that the majority of the valley’s people were poor and it was beyond their capacity to reconstruct their damaged houses, adding the affected people were in dire need of assistance.

The councillor said that the assessment teams didn’t visit a number of affected villages of the valley. He demanded action against those responsible for the negligence.

Yaqoob said that the valley had earlier been devastated by flash floods in July, washing away roads, bridges, irrigation channels and water supply schemes which were yet to be restored.

“It seems that the government has consigned the people of Karimabad to oblivion in all walks of life and in such circumstances it is of no use to remain in the local bodies,” he lamented.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2015