PESHAWAR, July 12: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) to share responsibility with Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in provision of much-needed facilities to internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Jalozai Camp in Nowshera.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Sajjad Hassan Shah also directed both the authorities to carry out extensive survey of other IDP camps in the province and tribal areas and provide them facilities like Jalozai Camp.
The bench directed district and sessions judge, Nowshera, Ms Irshad Qaiser to visit Jalozai Camp on July 19 and 20 and see whether the orders of the high court concerning provisions of facilities to the IDPs were implemented or not.
The bench directed the DSJ to check availability of facilities such as medical staff, medicines, water, food, lavatories etc besides recording statements of elders of the IDPs about these facilities and submit a report by July 21. The court fixed Aug 9 for next hearing.
The court also directed chief executive of Peshawar Electric Supply Company to ensure regular supply of electricity to the camp. It was ordered that sufficient number of electricity generators should be provided so that they could be put to use in case of any power breakdown.
The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the issue and on April 11 and 24 he had ordered the PDMA to provide all the required facilities to the IDPs at Jalozai Camp. A day earlier the court had also issued certain directives to the Fata Secretariat about facilities to the IDPs.
On Thursday, PDMA chief coordinator Faiz Mohammad briefed the court about facilities so far extended to the IDPs and said that initially the provincial finance department had raised certain objections to provision of fans to displaced families, but after the chief minister overruled those objections the provision of fans had started.
He said that fans had been provided to 3,000 of total 12,000 families in the camp so far and the process would be completed before start of the month of Ramazan.
On a query of the bench, FDMA director general Asghar Ali said that Jalozai was in the jurisdiction of PDMA, but they were ready to meet any demand of the IDPs. He said that they had been looking after displaced persons in tribal areas.
The chief justice observed that the FDMA could not absolve itself of the responsibilities merely because the IDPs had crossed over to settled districts. He directed him to increase coordination with the PDMA and share the burden of provision of rest of the fans and other facilities to the families.
Mr Faiz stated that the chief minister had approved four chillers for the camp, which had the capacity of cooling 5,000 litres of water in an hour. The bench asked the FDMA that it should also install four more chillers before Ramazan.
The chief justice praised the interest shown by the WFP, Unicef and other humanitarian agencies in looking after the IDPs.