PESHAWAR: The Chitral Scouts stopped members of the Dawn Relief Earthquake Welfare Organisation, also known simply as Dawn Relief, from entering the calamity-hit area of Churan Oveer over the latter’s failure to produce a no-objection certificate (NOC), said a press release on Thursday.

Some personnel of the Chitral Scouts stopped a team from Dawn Relief — which was established by the Dawn Media Group in late 2005 — at the Koragh check post near Churan Oveer on Aug 24 and asked its chief to show them an NOC issued by the authorities concerned.

The team could not produce the NOC and had to return to Chitral city. The team’s chief, Zahid Khattak, later approached Chitral’s Deputy Commissioner, Shahab Hamid Yousafzai, to seek his help but he said he was helpless in the absence of an NOC.

“Dawn Relief has been using its own money for building houses [in the earthquake-affected areas] as per the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority’s recommendations,” said the press release.

“The Dawn management and its employees feel that there was no justifiable reason for government agencies to start demanding NOCs,” it added.

The Dawn Relief has been working in the quake-hit areas of Chitral since 2015. After providing essential items to the affected people, the organisation began rebuilding destroyed houses in the area and has so far rebuilt some 70 units so far. But the project seems to be in jeopardy now, said sources.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2017