ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: Federal relief commissioner Maj-Gen Farooq Ahmed Khan has said that ready-made bridge shall be provided for efficient communication in the earthquake areas of the NWFP and Azad Kashmir, so that relief goods and construction material are transported easily.

He was talking to a 22-member delegation of the NWFP led by Lt-Gen (R) Salahauddin Tirmizi that called on him here on Monday.

The delegation included Nazims, Councilors and business community members of Balakot, Kaghan and Manshera. They apprised the relief commissioner about the problems being faced by their respective constituencies after the Oct 8 earthquake.

Responding to a question, Gen Farooq said that extending micro credit and other loan facilities for restarting small business shall be coordinated by Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), i.e., in the second phase of relief and rehabilitation after march this year.

Gen Farooq briefed the delegation about the relief and rehabilitation activities being carried out in the earthquake-affectd areas so far. He said victims of Balakot had got compensation for 57,988 houses while a total of 276,000 affected families from the NWFP had received compensation for damaged houses. Gen Farooq said that the compensation figures for houses, dead and injured were provided by the respective governments of the NWFP and AJK and the federal government had released an amount of Rs 22 billion to both the governments in the first phase for compensation to all the victims.

The commissioner said that donor agencies such as USAID, DFID, WFP, IUCN, ILO, UNDP, CIDA, JICA, etc are requested to support the livelihood programme in areas where agriculture is hit by the quake.—Online