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| April 15, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1427 |
Rebuilding policy of Erra criticised
ISLAMABAD, April 14: Speakers at a seminar on Friday criticised the rebuilding policy of Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) in the affected areas.
The participants of the seminar, organised by Emergency and Reconstruction Project of ActionAid Pakistan, asserted that the housing policy was designed to make the process of receiving housing grant difficult and had been made by people in Islamabad without holding any consultation with the affected communities.
They said complicated procedures and flawed Erra policies were non-responsive to the problems and needs of the affected communities.
The seminar, second in the series, was largely attended by representatives of community-based organisations (CBOs), local government representatives and women from different tehsils of Battagram.
The participants articulated some important demands and recommendations to be included in the housing policy and to be implemented in all the affected areas.
They said the distribution of the housing grant through banks was not an easy process since in Battagram there were only four banks.
It has been difficult for people to open accounts. Therefore, ActionAid suggests the grants be distributed through other means like post offices. More branches of banks should also be opened at the union council level.
Furthermore, the housing grant should be provided as an open check and not a cross check as this will facilitate the receipt of the money and should be given to the authorized person.
The participants suggested that one immediate family should receive the housing grant as one unit and should be provided in lumpsum instead of in three instalments. The monthly allowance of Rs3,000 should also be given in lumpsum and the housing grant should be increased to cover the cost of transportation of building material to remote and mountainous locations.
In order to speed up the reconstruction process, Nadra should contribute by improving its mobile services in the affected areas and old ID cards should also be acceptable for the receipt of the housing grant.
The participants were of the view that the housing designs prescribed by Erra did not reflect the needs of the local people nor did it take into account the difficult terrain of the affected areas, therefore there should be some flexibility in it.
Houses in the mountainous areas should be built with wood, stones and mud instead of concrete.
The need for participatory approach towards development was stressed and it was suggested that people from the affected areas should be trained in building techniques as this would also provide them with livelihoods.
Local CBOs and NGOs should also be included in the reconstruction process and the assessment teams should include local volunteers in order to ensure community participation.
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