RAWALPINDI: The district administration has finalised the estimates of damage to private and public property during the Faizabad sit-in.

In a report sent to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, a committee consisting of the revenue and building departments and the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) said that the damage caused to public and private property is estimated to be worth Rs40 million.

Damaged private property includes a CNG station at Faizabad that faced Rs12m worth of damages, Rs100,000 worth of damages to a furniture and fibre market, Rs91,000 worth of damages to a grocery store and Rs1.4m worth of damages to Crescent Furniture, a shop near the home of former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

Damaged public property includes Rs26m worth of damages to the metro bus station at Faizabad.

Iron grills on Murree Road and CCTV camera trolleys were also damaged.

A senior district administration official told Dawn the administration also forwarded a list of six people who died in government-run hospitals, according to a list provided by the medical superintendents of Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital.

According to the decided compensation payments, the family of each deceased individual will receive Rs800,000 from the government, while those injured in the operation – over 50 in the three government-run hospitals – would receive Rs400,000, he said.

In response to a question, the official said Mr Khan refused compensation from the government for damage done to his house.

“We did not go there to assess the damage, as per the government’s directions,” he said, adding that Mr Khan’s repairs were completed by him.

He said the committee was directed by the government to submit the report detailing the damage to the government, which it has done.

However, he said, the provincial government will also seek third party verification, and compensation payments would be released after this and would take two to three months.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017