MANSEHRA: Lawyer for the survivors of the 2005 Balakot earthquake Munir Hussain Lughmani on Wednesday said the Supreme Court had directed the provincial chief secretary and relief and rehab secretary to produce a report about progress on the New Balakot City project within a month.

“A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan has sought a comprehensive report [from chief secretary and relief secretary] on the funds received by the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority for and spent on the New Balakot City and other such projects in areas affected by the Oct 2005 earthquake,” Mr Lughmani told reporters here.

He said the apex court also directed the Erra to produce details of the funds collected for and spent on the reconstruction of earthquake-hit schools, health facilities and infrastructure in the region.

The lawyer said the directions came from the court after hearing a petition filed by a committee of the Balakot earthquake survivors.

Lawyer says Erra asked about funds spent on reconstruction activities

The Supreme Court had ordered the Erra and provincial government to develop the NBC project and allot plots to families from the Balakot Red Zone and Garlat. However, the orders await action.

The groundbreaking of the mega housing project was performed in 2007 by the then military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf.

PROTEST: Chairmen of the village and neighbourhood councils on Wednesday took out a rally against their suspension by the Election Commission of Pakistan until the holding of the provincial assembly elections.

“If the prime minister, his cabinet members and sitting MNAs can’t influence the [PA] elections, how members of local bodies can do this, especially when they don’t have any powers as well as development funds at their disposal,” Safada village council chairman Basharat Ali Swati told protesters outside the ECP’s offices here.

The rally started off outside the press club building with participants shouting slogans against the ECP. They presented a memorandum of their demands to district election commissioner Ishaq Khan Marwat.

Meanwhile, the police, Rescue 1122 and other government departments on Wednesday concluded a joint operation launched to find bodies after a passenger coach and a car fell into a ravine after head-on collision in Upper Kohistan district.

Abdul Rehman of Rescue 1122 told reporters that the search operation continued for two days in the Shitial area and all 19 bodies were found.

He said the bodies except one unidentified one had been sent to the respective areas in ambulances, while the injured were shifted to different hospitals.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2023