PESHAWAR, June 12: Many district governments are not happy about the new flood relief compensation offered to families affected by floods in Nowshera, Charsadda and Peshawar districts last year. The amount offered would not help the poor people recover their material losses, officials told this correspondent.

According to a government notification issued on July 11, 2005 by the provincial relief commissioner, the rates of ‘relief compensation’ offered under Section 3 of the National Calamity (Prevention and Relief) Act 1958, were increased.

While the new notification, which replaced an earlier order of Jan 28, 1999, offered a two-fold increase in compensation for human losses, the increase in the amount offered to recompense for damage to private property was negligible.

Last summer, the government had distributed some Rs2.6 million as compensation among thousands of families affected by flood in Nowshera district, the sources said.

However, the payment made was of little help to poor families of Nowshera Kalan, Pir-Sabaq, Amangarh, Pirpai, Pashtoongarhi, Mohib Banda, Banda Shaikh Ismail and Momin Garhi, an official of the Nowshera district government said.

People affected by last year’s floods termed the compensation inadequate and said the funds did not cover the rising prices of construction material, including cement, steel and bricks.

Under the new scheme, the compensation offered for a completely damaged house in the Pacca category has been raised from Rs7,000 to Rs10,000, while compensation for a completely damaged ‘kacha’ house has been increased from Rs5,000 to Rs7,000.

“How can anyone rebuild a house, even a kacha one, in Rs7,000 or Rs10,000?” says Amir Wahab, a resident of district Nowshera whose house was partially damaged in floods last year.

Officials of the provincial relief commissioner’s office said that the provincial government was unable to compensate in full to people who suffered property losses.

The compensation was meant as immediate relief and it was not meant to compensate for the entire cost of a damaged house, another official said.