News Desk |
Millions of rupees worth compensation has been awarded amongst families and individuals across five tribal districts in former FATA to remunerate for the properties that were damaged during the years of turmoil and war. However, hundreds of families still await scrutiny over their claims for compensation.
The Citizen Losses Compensation Programme (CLCP) stated that 72,000 of the total 111,824 houses across the five tribal districts that were destroyed during the conflict have been verified by authorities. The survey to verify and validate all damaged properties is still underway across the five tribal districts, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Khyber Agency, Khurram Agency, and Orakzai Agency.
The highest number of damages has been reported from South Waziristan’s regions, dominated by the Mehsud Tribe, and reports suggest that a total of 70,270 unconfirmed cases have been registered from the district.
CLCP released a press release announcing that a total sum of Rupees 18.4 billion has been distributed amongst the locals to compensate for the destruction of their properties. The authorities have yet to verify and validate 39,582 claims launched by affected families, while the authorities have forwarded a request to the provincial finance departments for the release of Rupees 1.094 billion to the deputy commissioners across the tribal districts.
The operations conducted against the Taliban led to the mass destruction of commercial properties and houses across five tribal districts. Media reports revealed that 15,000 shops were razed down in Miramshah and Mirali alone. However, damaged commercial properties and business venues were not included in the survey conducted by CLCP.
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PTI Government’s Economic Revitalization Programme
The Imran Khan-led federal government has launched a dynamic campaign, an economic revitalization programme fund that will provide cash grants to small scale businesses and entrepreneurs to revive the economy and compensate for the losses incurred during the fight against militancy. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Relief, Rehabilitation, and Settlement Department have been tasked with the responsibility of managing the compensation programme and undertaking measures to reconstruct former FATA upon its merger with the KPK province.
An official, while speaking to Dawn News, stated that the majority of the damaged houses in the terror-stricken tribal districts were constructed with mud and stones, and over the years, they were damaged due to lack of maintenance and repairs because the residents were forced to abandon their homes eight years ago.
PM Khan had suggested that all provinces allocate 3% of their share under the NFC to assist Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in undertaking large-scale development across the newly merged tribal districts.
The authorities, as per the reports collected from the five tribal districts, state that 83,125 houses were fully and 28,699 houses were partially damaged. The highest number of damages has been reported from South Waziristan’s regions, dominated by the Mehsud Tribe, and reports suggest that a total of 70,270 unconfirmed cases have been registered from the district.
The committee has so far verified 32,696 cases of compensation across South Waziristan, and cheques worth rupees 7.95 billion have been paid to the affected families. In North Waziristan, reports reveal that 4,902 fully damaged and 7,515 partially damaged houses have been verified, and the authorities have issued rupees 3.16 billion. Upon verification, the authorities have paid compensation cheques to affected households across three other districts.
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Citizen Losses Compensation Programme
CLCP is an initiative launched by the federal government across give tribal districts of South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Khyber Agency, Khurram Agency and Orakzai Agency in 2015. During the military operations launched against militants lurking in the tribal belts, millions of families and civilians were forced to abandon their houses, businesses and evacuate the region.
In 2015, the Nawaz Sharif-led government had approved a grant of rupees 400,000 for fully damaged houses and rupees 160,000 for partially damaged houses. A Reconstruction and Rehabilitation United (RRU) was established to ensure speedy disposal of compensation to the affected families. However, little success was achieved as the process was extremely slow and a lengthy verification process denied compensation to thousands of affected households.
Earlier last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had urged the entire nation and other provinces to support the economic and infrastructural development of the war-ravaged tribal districts. While addressing the floor of the National Assembly, PM Khan said, “The entire country must make contributes to uplift and develop the tribal regions in order to eliminate their deprivations”.
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PM Khan had suggested that all provinces allocate 3% of their share under the NFC to assist Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in undertaking large-scale development across the newly merged tribal districts.