Relief yet to reach quake victims in Torghar

MANSEHRA: Emergency relief such as blankets, tents and medicines have not yet reached the affected people of Kunder Hassanzai tehsil of Torghar after the Oct 26 earthquake.

“The affected families in our tehsil are without emergency relief even after taking up the issue with the district administration,” Shahzad Shah told mediapersons here on Saturday.

Accompanied by naib nazim Said Mohammad and tehsil councillors, Mr Shah said that their tehsil was hit hard by the earthquake, but the administration did not pay heed to provide relief items to the victims.

“I raised the issue at the district level, but rescue and relief activities have not been started in the tehsil as yet,” he said. Mr Shah said that both the federal and provincial governments were making tall claims of reaching the affected families in the far-off areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but so far they had not seen any help coming for the quake victims in Kunder Hassanzai.

He said that the local government system was in place, but these bodies were without any funds that could be utilised for provision of relief items to the quake victims.

HELP ASSURED: MNA from Torghar district Mohammad Safdar has assured the quake-stricken people that the federal government would ensure their early rehabilitation.

“The distribution of compensation cheques among the quake-stricken families has started and I assure you that compensation would be paid to all the affected families after the damage assessment,” Mr Safdar told a public gathering in Torghar on Saturday.

Mr Safdar, who visited his constituency for the first time after the 2013 general elections, said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had been visiting the affected areas daily which showed his resolve to address the problems being faced by the survivors.

He said that the National Accountability Bureau had launched an inquiry to take to justice those who had plundered Rs220 million meant for the people’s welfare in his constituency (NA-21).

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2015