ISLAMABAD: The government has so far disbursed Rs36.656 billion to 948,878 flood victims in the country in second phase of Watan card project.
The second phase is regarded as Citizen's Damage Compensation Programme (CDCP) under which second tranche of compensation is being provided through National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to about 1.1 million affectees.
A latest data provided by NADRA revealed on Tuesday that phase-II of CDCP was inaugurated last year as Rs40,000 (in two installments) has to be provided to each of the households identified by the provinces.
The Authority said as many as 339,999 Watan cards were issued in Punjab in second phase with disbursement of Rs13.535 billion, in Sindh the number of Watan Cards so far issued is 303,831 with a disbursed amount of Rs11.147 billion, in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, the number of Watan Cards issued stood at 277,825 with disbursed amount of Rs11.008 billion and in Balochistan total processed so far is 13,072 cards with disbursement of Rs463 million cash to affectees.
In Azad Kashmir 9,364 Watan cards were issued disbursing Rs356 million while NADRA sites were set up in Hattian, Haveli, Mirpur, Neelum and Rawalakot.
In Gilgit-Baltistan 4,030 cards were issued disbursing Rs148 million and three sites were established in Gilgit, Hunza and Skardu.
The Authority has covered more than 92 % caseload of CDCP Phase II beneficiaries pertaining to Haveli, Hattian, Neelum, Mirpur, Rawalakot of AJK, Gilgit, Hunza, Skardu of Gilgit-Baltistan, Charsada, Mardan, Noshera, D.I. Khan, Haripur, Lower Dir, Lakki Marwat, Kohat, and Hangu of Khyber Pakhtukhwa, Mianwali, Jhang, Khushab, Bhakar and Dera Ghazi Khan of Punjab.
NADRA also appreciated role of donor agencies and informed that second phase of the CDCP is supported by four donors, including USAID, DFID, the Government of Italy and the World Bank with a total allocation of US$ 580 million of which the Government of Pakistan is contributing US$ 100 million.
The World Bank has been assigned the lead donor agency for this effort.
As much as Rs34 billion in Phase-I was already disbursed across the country in all the provinces including Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK with contributions from the Federal Government as well as the provinces.
However, the initial payment of Rs20,000 under Phase-1 is unlikely to be sufficient for recapitalization of assets given the extent of damage and loss, necessitating the graduation of CDCP into Phase-II which aims to assist the flood-affected households in rebuilding their lives beyond immediate relief.
July 2010 floods in Pakistan were a disaster of unprecedented scale, which affected 80 districts and nearly 10% of Pakistan's population of about 18 million people over a vast geographical area, the tragedy destroyed approximately 1.6 million homes and damaged 2.4 million hectares of crops.
First phase of Watan Card was launched in September 2010, whereby the Government has already distributed an initial tranche of Rs20,000 among 1.75 million affected families in order to provide immediate relief.
Disbursements to beneficiaries were done through the Watan Card mechanism with the support of partner Commercial Banks. In making the programme successful NADRA played a key role by developing a transparent programme design using modern biometric technology and established Watan Card Facilitation Centers (WCFCs) throughout the affected districts.
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