PESHAWAR: A plethora of issues has been impeding the housing compensation and economic revitalisation programmes in the militancy-affected areas of the erstwhile Fata leaving thousands of families without means to restart normal life.

The Economic Revitalisation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and erstwhile Fata Project was launched in 2014 to assist the government in the economic recovery and revitalisation of the crisis-stricken areas through creation of sustainable employment opportunities, rehabilitation of small and medium enterprises, investment mobilisation, and institutional capacity building.

Simultaneously, the federal government began the Citizens Losses Compensation Programme (CLCP) in 2015 to compensate hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons of five districts, whose houses were damaged due to the military operations, by providing funds for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of houses.

Officials overseeing the two programmes admitted that multiple factors had plagued both initiatives that not only delayed the verification of damaged properties and businesses but also disbursement.

The Economic Revitalisation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata Project, a venture of Multi-donor Trust Fund, was simultaneously started in the settled districts, especially Malakand region, and merged districts to help people rehabilitate their small and medium businesses through cash grants.

Grants are given under the heads of rehabilitation, upgradation and cluster, and the maximum amount under rehabilitation is Rs2.5 million, while the minimum grant is Rs100,000.

The task in the settled districts of KP had been finished and deserving small and medium entrepreneurs received grants. However, the project in merged districts has yet to be completed. The project was halted in the former Fata in 2016-17 for want of funds and was re-launched in 2018 after donors provided funds for the programme.

Thousands of families struggle to pick up threads of life due to administrative issues hampering these programmes

Officials dealing with the project in tribal districts said around 35,000 people had applied for grants in 2018 and the Project Unit working under the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority had so far verified around 400 cases only.

They said the Peshawar-based Project Unit after the completion of legal formalities had released grants to a few dozen families during the last two years.

The relevant officials blame the ‘inordinate’ delay in verification and recommendation of cases on the administrations of the respective tribal districts.

“When deputy commissioners do not verify processed cases, what can the PU do? The office of the additional chief secretary gave the respective administration’s intimations to clear pending cases but they [DCs] don’t take it seriously,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

He said the PU team hadn’t got the permission to visit North Waziristan tribal district to verify cases.

“The administration stopped our team from visiting North Waziristan when they sought permission and therefore, not a single case has so far been verified,” he said.

The official said around 100 cases processed by the PU after assessment had been pending final verification by the Kurram DC.

Same is the situation in South Waziristan tribal district, where only 14 cases have been processed since the launch of the project in 2018.

Two hundred cases have been verified in Khyber, 75 in Bajaur, 70 in Mohmand and 15 in Orakzai tribal district.

Likewise, the housing compensation scheme is also facing numerous hindrances despite the availability of resources and expertise.

The previous government had established a specialised body, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Unit (RRU), for the swift assessment of damaged houses and payment of compensation to the affected people in five tribal districts, including South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Khyber, Kurram and Orakzai.

The government had announced Rs400,000 for a destroyed house and Rs160,000 for a house damaged in military operations in these districts.

Official documents show that thousands of affected families have yet to receive compensation due to the procedural wrangling and discrepancies.

The provincial government had swiftly processed hundreds of thousands of cases in Malakand division and Bajaur and Mohmand tribal districts and paid cash compensation to the internally displaced persons.

According to the official documents, the survey identified 145,706 fully and partially damaged houses in these five districts and RRU distributed 81,509 compensation cheques until Dec 7. The verification survey in some areas is under way.

South Waziristan’s areas dominated by Mehsud tribe have the highest number of damaged houses, where 87,605 fully and partially damaged houses had been surveyed. The RRU has distributed cheques of Rs27.22 billon to house owners in the five districts.

MPA Hafiz Isamuddin from South Waziristan district blamed the district administration for delay in the payment of compensation to the affected people.

He said initially, the administration issued tokens to around 80,000 people for the payment of compensation but later, the process was halted due to mismanagement.

“The survey process is so slow that the team visits the area one day and remains absent for the next 10 days,” he said.

In the Mehsud-dominated areas, another 110 villages have been approved for the survey of damaged houses.

The MPA said as there were no shelters in the area, the residents had to live in other parts of the country.

“The locals are filing fake cases and tampering with documents. The responsibility for this illegality rests with the administration,” he said.

An official in the RRU told Dawn that the compensation process was affected by the massive tampering of property documents, especially in South Waziristan.

“First, the house owner claims compensation, then his son files case for compensation against the same house and so on,” he said.

The official said the survey teams didn’t visit many areas in South Waziristan, North Waziristan and Orakzai tribal districts due to a lack of access and absence of local people.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020