PESHAWAR, Feb 20: The NWFP government has set up a Provincial Advisory Forum (PAF) to monitor the activities of the Provincial Earthquake Reconstruction Agency (PERA) in the five quake-affected districts of the province, sources said.

Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani will head the forum, while senior ministers, MPAs of the respective areas and district Nazims would be its members.

An official said that the provincial government had notified the PERA and its main functions were to approve the schemes in the public sector and supervise PERA’s reconstruction activities in the affected areas.

He said that the provincial government had also sought an operational budget from the federal government to recruit staff for PERA that would launch reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in these areas.

Apart from this, each affected district would have its own District Construction Unit which would be headed by the District Nazim.

They said that PERA and DCUs would function as implementing bodies in the quake devastated areas of October 8, 2005.

An official said that the federal government had also planned to provide mobile banking facilities to the affected people in the remote parts of the five districts. He also said that the next instalment of the compensation package to the affected people would be paid through mobile banking units and for this purpose the provincial government had directed district coordination officers to collect data about the affected people.

He said that the country’s main commercial banks would set up mobile units in remote areas of the five districts and payment of compensation would be started after completion of necessary data.

The federal government will pay Rs75,000 to per household to reconstruct their damaged houses. Affected families will receive Rs25,000 as first instalment of the compensatory amount.