PESHAWAR, Oct 7: The NWFP government will pay Rs3,000 per month for one year to each of the 300,000 people rendered helpless by last year’s earthquake in five districts of the province.

Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani told a news conference here on Saturday that initially the government had decided to give the aid for six months but now they would get it for one year.

He said that students of public sector education institutions in the quake-hit areas had been exempted from tuition fee for two years while Rs17.2 million had so far been released to various schools. The provincial Department of Schools and Literacy had been directed to provide new tents to schools in the affected areas to ensure continuity of educational activist in winter.

Mr Durrani praised the government, army and other institutions for their ‘outstanding performance’ in rehabilitation of affected people. However, he evaded many questions about performance of the Provincial Earthquake Rehabilitation Authority (Pera). He also did not answer questions regarding misappropriation in compensation amount and relief goods, saying inquiries had been conducted against a few revenue officers and school teachers. He said except for some minor cases, funds had been distributed in a transparent way.

According to the official figures, he said, 22,705 people had died, 40,564 were wounded and a million people became displaced while 550,000 houses were damaged completely or partially. He said, Rs19 billion had so far been distributed among survivors while the prime minister had directed Erra to release Rs 3 billion which would be distributed in 34 union councils.

He said tenders had been called for various schemes and actual reconstruction would be started from next year.

When asked about preparation of provincial disaster management plan, Mr Durrani said strategy was being formulated and the government required Rs22 billion for this purpose.

Regarding construction of a new city at Bakeryal, he said about 30,000 kanal of land would be acquired and 50,000 housing units would be built for general public. He said people from remote areas like Kohistan and Alia would also get houses in the new town. Mr Durrani said that Saiful Islam, son of Libyan President Qaddafi, had committed to build the new Balakot city at Bakeryal but later he backed out from his pledge.