The government should make immediate efforts to shift the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Swat to hilly and cold areas of Mansehra and Abbottabad as the scorching heat has made life miserable for them, said Managing Director of Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal (PBM) Zamurrud Khan here on Wednesday.
"The IDPs from cold areas of Swat are not capable to bear the heat in tent-based camps at Swabi and Mardan, so it is imperative to shift them to hilly areas of Mansehra and Abbottabad," Zamrrud Khan said while talking to reporters.
"Shifting the IDPs to cold areas will not only give relief to them, but will also save at least half of the resources being spent on assisting the IDPs," he said, adding that there were so many places with lower temperatures and river banks in the NWFP and these camps should be shifted to such colder places so that the children and women could have access to water and other facilities for better hygiene.
He said the IDPs, particularly children, old men and women, were badly suffering from heat in tent settlements and had developed different skin and other viral diseases as there was no arrangement for the IDPs, who were not accustomed to the hot weather conditions.
If the camps were not shifted immediately, he said, any human disaster might take place as the temperature rises to 50 degree centigrade in the camps. There were more than 500 new-born babies and their mothers were suffering due to rising heat in the camps, Zamarud Khan said.
Zamurrud Khan said he had taken up the issue of shifting the camps with Special Support Group (SSG) Chairman Lieutenant General Nadeem as the final decision of shifting the camps had to be taken by General Nadeem and the NWFP Chief Minister. "I have also visited Abbottabad for choosing suitable locations for the IDPs camps. Moreover, we should establish smaller camps as this would help manage the camps better," he added.
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