The Provincial Earthquake and Rehabilitation Agency (Perra) and Erra, with the support of donors agencies, NGOs and Ingos, are engaged in rapidly converting the October 8 devastation's of earthquake into opportunity by bringing prosperity, and put them on the road to sustainable development where they can restart their lives with new spirit and enthusiasm.
On the anniversary of October 8 earthquake, the Director-General of Provincial Earthquake and Rehabilitation Agency, Peshawar, Dr Fazlur Rehman, reiterated his pledge that he and his team would leave no stone unturned for the uplift of the quake-affected districts, including Mansehara, Battagram, Kohistan, Shangla and Abbottabad. He said that since the establishments of Perra the staff of the Agency and DRUs work hard day and night with the welfare spirit, and remained with them during hard days.
Elaborating the work in progress, the Director-General said that construction work on 229 Schools, 40 government buildings, 332 water and sanitation schemes and 27 roads were in progress, whereas the work on 277 buildings of schools, colleges, hospitals, drinking water and government under pledged schemes have been completed. Out of 142,889 houses, 47780 houses have been constructed, whereas 100,809 houses were in construction of plinth level under cash grant scheme.
The Erra and Perra transfer directly the amount to the accounts of affectees under cash grant scheme. The Erra and Perra considered all possible transparency factors during this process up to ultimate end, he claimed.
He said that individuals are not allowed to play with the affected people and watchdog foolproof system in the reconstruction and rehabilitation process were kept. He added that international community, and particularly the citizen of the country, contributed a lot by taking steps which not only uplifted the area but also brought it equal to other developed districts.
He said that work on the new Balakot city was in progress. Development work and demarcations of plots on the land acquired uptil now has been completed, he added. The Federal Government on the directives of President General Pervez Musharraf has provided Rs 1.5 billion for the New Balakot.
However, special care was conducted to remove the grievances of the land owners. This also delayed the project for a while due to negotiations with the owners. He lauded the services of Pakistan Army and Provincial Government for supporting a lot and providing all possible help. Pak Army was in the forefront in all sectors since October eight earthquake, he added.