KARACHI: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail on Friday asked the Pakistan International Airlines to speed up the process of compensation payment to families of the May 22, 2020 plane crash victims and those who suffered losses on the ground.

The directives came during a meeting at Governor House in which matters regarding compensation to the legal heirs/family members of the PIA 8303 crash victims and other related issues were discussed, said a statement.

The PIA COO gave a detailed briefing on the compensation given to the families of victims so far and assured the participants that all outstanding compensation amounts would be given to the remaining families as soon as the legal requirements were completed.

He said that as an insurance company was involved in paying the compensation, the submission of succession certificate was necessary for the purpose.

He noted that the PIA had borne the expenses of burial of the victims of the air crash, and compensation had also been paid to people whose houses had been destroyed or damaged in the incident.

“Compensation had been paid to the owners of 18 homes damaged in the incident whereas payments had been due in the cases of only four homes whose reconstruction or repair was required owing to some legal formalities,” he said.

The Sindh governor mentioned that the PM had issued clear directives that the matter of payment of compensation be expedited and the bereaved families should be provided with utmost support. “Precious lives have been lost. Considerable time has already passed. The PIA should remove the impediments and bottlenecks in order to ensure compensation process, without delaying the matter any further,” he emphasised.

The governor vowed to get the issues resolved and reservations sorted out on priority basis to ensure immediate relief to aggrieved family members of the victims.

“A team of lawyers associated with PIA must be constituted immediately so that the succession certificates could be prepared for the remaining families,” he added.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2021