“I have not seen a day of happiness in my life since October 8, 2005 when a devastating earthquake flattened Balakot city and landed us in these small makeshift shelters in miserable condition,” Haji Arshad Malik said while taking sip of tea at a hotel in Balakot.

The elderly man asked his companions, sitting around him, that if the ‘big tragedy’ was over then why they were still languishing in the small shelters. “Although life seems normal apparently yet people are still reeling because of the brunt of the tragedy. They are still without basic amenities and household,” he complained.

Mr Malik said that a lot of work and efforts were needed to bring back Balakot, a historical city, to its pre-earthquake position. The inhabitants of the city have been living in two-room houses in highly miserable condition as New Balakot City, a mega housing project launched at Bakrial to settle the survivor families of Balakot, seems a dream to them.

Mr Malik is not the only one, who talks disappointedly about the New Balakot City (NBC) project, as everyone in this red zone area is hopeless about the future of the scheme.

“The horrible footages of the ruined Balakot awakened the conscious of international community and it donated generously but even a little chunk of the amount was not spent for the betterment of the affected people,” said Mohammad Javed, another victim of the earthquake.

He said that Balakot people, who had been living in the small shelter houses for the last nine years, were suffering from many deadly disease including scabies and allergy because of the overcrowding and congested environment.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which donated generously for rehabilitation of the quake survivors and reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure following the tragedy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir, had also donated 5,000 two-room prefabricated houses for the affected families of Balakot to live there till their shifting to New Balakot City.

The foundation stone of NBC housing project was laid by the then president Pervez Musharraf in 2007 after a team of international geologists and seismologists termed Balakot dangerous to live, saying it (Balakot) was situated at 16-active volcanic fault lines.

The team having experts from Japan, China, France and other countries also asked the government in its final report that the city and its people should be shifted to other safe place as if any tragedy like that of October 8, 2005 happened again it might cause more destruction as compared to the previous one.

The mega housing project, which was launched with an estimated cost of Rs12 billion, was scheduled to be completed at the end of year 2010 but hardly 17 per cent work was carried out there. The roads, sewerage lines and streets have been set up only on 1,600 kanals land of five sectors -- A, B, C, D and E -- of the housing project.

“Now the total cast of the project has risen to almost Rs24 billion from Rs12 billion because of suspension of work and delay in its completion,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

According to information gathered from officials concerned, a total of 8,444 kanals land, including 4,000 kanals of forest department, was acquired for the project.

An amount of Rs 1.23 billion from president fund, as donors declined to pay the cost of the land, were paid to landowners through local revenue department for their houses, trees and cattle pens in Dodial and Bakrial, the site selected for the project.

A total of Rs4 billion have been spent on the project so far under various heads including land purchase, infrastructure and excavations. However, the day of September 3, 2009 proved fatal for the project and worked was suspended when a local resident (landowner) was shot dead allegedly by police during a protest.

Initially a project director was charged with the murder but later the charges were quashed and the issue was settled amicably. However, work on the project is still suspended, causing huge finical losses to national exchequer.

The landowners, who still occupy their land and houses at Bakrial, demand increase in the rates of their properties, paid to them by the revenue department, and want plots for every married couple. Earlier, their demands were rejected by Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) and government.

During the final round of talks, which was held earlier this year, both district administration and landowners of Bakrial agreed to continue the process of parleys to find an amicable solution to the problems but deadlock was crated again on some points.

In the past, Erra and provincial government locked horns over the issue, passing the buck to each other. The residents of Balakot complain that they bear the brunt of the apathy of federal and provincial governments.

The recent meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in Peshawar and attended by Erra Maj Deputy Chairman Gen Mohammad Azeem Asif, Hazara commissioner and Mansehra deputy commissioner seems a step in the right direction to settle land dispute once for all.

Deputy Commissioner Ikramullah Khan said that he was instructed by the chief minister to get the land vacated. Initially, the district government would extend support to executing agency to complete of C and D sectors of the housing project.

“We would first hold parleys with landowners to convince them to vacate the land for which they were already paid. If they don’t agree then the law would take its due course to vacate land for the project,” the official said.

Erra Director General retired Brig Zafar Wahla told Dawn that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was planning to take issue of NBC in the authority’s council, headed by the prime minister, to discuss the cause of delay in completion of the project.

He said that although Erra was willing to follow the give-and-take formula to settle land dispute with landowners at Bakrial but it was unfortunate that illegal occupants were creating hurdles without any justification despite the fact that they had received payments of land, trees and cattle pens.

Mr Wahla said that infrastructural work in two sectors -- C and D -- was almost completed where they would allot about 1,600 plots to the affected families of Balakot.

The Erra chief said that a total of 4,000 plots would be allotted to affected families of Balakot and 700 to the landowners of Bakrial to settle the issue once for all.

“Now it is up to the provincial government to get vacated the land for the illegal occupants, who despite receiving money are still occupying the land,” he said.

Mr Wahla said that the meeting between Erra deputy chairman and prime minister was a good sign.

He said that whatever decision was taken in the meeting of deputy chairman Erra with chief minister in Peshawar the other day would also pave the way for vacating the land from illegal occupants.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2014