ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers belonging to south Punjab on Tuesday expressed their serious concerns over the alleged wrongdoings in the surveys conducted in three flood-hit districts to assess the damages, alleging that the lists carrying the names of the affected persons had been compiled on the basis of political affiliations.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi, responding to the allegations in the National Assembly, announced the federal government could ask the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to conduct a “re-survey” in the affected south Punjab districts — Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Mianwali — in the light of the members’ complaints and termed the exclusion of the names of the affected persons from the lists on political considerations, if committed by the authorities, a “great excess”.

Later, however, the minister categorically refuted the impression of any wrongdoing in the survey and praised the federal and provincial authorities and all those involved in the process for “conducting an impartial survey.”

The issue was raised by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) dissidents Sardar Riaz Mazari from Rajanpur and Afzal Dhandla from Bhakkar through a calling attention notice, alleging that the names of the persons genuinely affected by the unprecedented rains and floods were missing from the lists compiled by the authorities during the damage assessment survey. They accused the provincial and district authorities of preparing the lists on political grounds, thus depriving those affected in the constituencies of their opponents.

Minister refutes allegations; says govt can ask NDMA for a re-survey; PTI dissident for action against Imran under Article 6

“This impression is wrong. An impartial survey has been conducted by all the governments [federal and provincial] and the stakeholders with a national spirit. This will be a national tragedy if we make the process controversial. There is no question of any discrimination [in the process],” declared the minister while apprising the house that the survey had been jointly conducted by the federal and the provincial governments through the respective disaster management authorities and district administrations to assess the damages caused by the recent floods.

Mr Abbasi said the NDMA had only assisted the provincial disaster management authorities in the process, explaining that its representative was there only to supervise the process. He complained that the provinces were required to submit the survey reports to the NDMA by Nov 30, but they had failed to do so. He, however, admitted that Gilgit-Baltistan had submitted its report.

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Responding to the allegations that the affected people had not yet received any compensation amount announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Mr Abbasi said the government had till then paid Rs1 million compensation each to the heirs of 854 of the 3,073 persons who had lost lives during the floods. He said the federal government had already released the amount to the NDMA and it would be paid to the remaining people after completing the verification process, adding that 1,740 cases had already been verified.

Earlier, raising the issue, Mr Mazari alleged that the survey conducted in his constituency was “totally wrong” and the names of those who had lost their standing crops and houses in the floods had been excluded from the list of the affected persons. He claimed the list contained a name of a person showing that he had lost cotton crop on 60-acre whereas he had not cultivated the crop even on one acre.

“You have to be just and fair while assessing the damages,” he said, alleging that the authorities had included the names of their “favourites” in the lists of the affected persons on political grounds.

Mr Dhandla accused the Bhakkar district administration of adopting a “pick and choose policy” during the survey process, asking the government to order a “re-survey” in the area. He alleged that the NDMA or the PDMA had not provided any relief assistance to the people in his constituency.

Opposition leader Raja Riaz demanded the input of MNAs of the affected areas be also sought before finalising the assessment reports.

Action under Article 6

Speaking on a point of order, another PTI dissident Noor Alam Khan blasted former prime minister Imran Khan for allegedly maligning the army and the judiciary and asked the government to take action against him under Article 6 of the constitution.

Questioning the government’s inaction in this regard, the MNA from Peshawar threatened to boycott the assembly proceedings if the government did not initiate any action against Mr Khan for “constantly attacking” the state institutions.

The National Assembly also adopted a resolution with majority votes to extend the Tax Laws (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2022 for a further period of 120 days, starting from December 20.

The assembly session that began on Nov 3 has now been prorogued.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2022