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Saturday, August 28, 2010
Calamity-hit status only for villages By Mohammad Ali Khan
Friday, 27 Aug, 2010 PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkwa government has decided to declare villages badly affected
by the flash floods as calamity-hit area rather than an entire district.
A senior official told Dawn
on Thursday that “the government has decided to extend the facility only to those areas where it is needed”.
According to the official the provincial Revenue and Estate Department has been directed to furnish details of the
damaged public and private properties on the basis of revenue record maintained for each village.
“Once
the details are furnished, the government will notify the areas as calamity-hit, a status which can offer waver of certain
local taxes as a relief to the flood affected households,” said the official.
Data collected by the revenue
staff would also be used to compensate affected people for the damage caused to their houses by the floods, he said.
Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) had categorised the entire province into three catego-ries keeping in view
the magnitude of damages the floods had caused in the districts.
Severely affected districts included Charsadda,
Dera Ismail Khan, Dir Lower, Dir Upper, Nowshera, Peshawar, Shangla, Swat, Tank and Kohistan.
Similarly, the medium
affected districts consist of Bannu, Battagram, Chitral, Karak, Kohat, Lakki, Malakand, Mansehra and Swabi. Bunair, Hangu,
Haripur, Mardan and Abbottabad had been included in the least affected category.
Different quarters had been demanding
that districts affected by the floods be declared as ‘calamity hit’ to enable the population to avail relief admissible
in such case.
However, according to the official, the provincial government does not want the relief measure to
be misused. He said a notification classifying the calamity-hit areas would be issued only after the revenue department completes
its assessment of damage at village level.
Details of the damage suffered by the villages in Peshawar district
had been compiled and communicated to the PDMA while the exercise was in process in other districts, he said.
Declaring
an area as calamity hit would bring its population relief as exemption from paying land revenue, water tax, property tax and
other local levies. It would also enable the authorities to plead for maximum aid from the federal government, said the official.
Revenue lost by the provincial government in the process could run into millions, the official added.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Stormy winds hit KP, uproot relief camps PESHAWAR: In Peshawar and its surrounding areas, rain and stormy winds have uprooted many camps of flood victims along the
Motorway, adding difficulties to the affected.
According to the Meteorological Department, central districts of
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are likely to witness more light showers and windy storms over the next few days.
Scenic Swat
valley, Buner and adjacent areas are also expected to receive heavy downpours.
The Met office has forecast a fresh
spell of rain from August 25 in the entire province; but there is no threat of rain induced floods.
The rains
will, however, bring down the sizzling temperature. SAMAA
9:05 am bdt
Sunday, August 22, 2010
City shuts down amid tensionBy Faraz Khan
KARACHI: The situation remained tense in the city on Friday as the Awami
National Party (ANP) mourned the death of their leader Ubaidullah Yousufzai, who was gunned down with a colleague on Thursday.
Most public transporters preferred to keep their vehicles off roads and people faced severe hardships in reaching
their offices and educational institutions.
Shops in Saddar, Empress Market, Rabia City, Sohrab Goth, Banaras,
Landhi, Keamari and other ANP-dominated areas of the city remained closed, creating immense problems for area residents who
could not purchase essential commodities.
Rangers detained two men who were forcing shopkeepers to close their
businesses in Model Colony, Malir. They were identified as Junaid and Nasir. Two TT pistols were recovered from their possession.
Sources said the men belonged to a political party.
In some parts of the city, people staged protest demonstrations
against the murder of the ANP leader and demanded the arrest of his killers. They chanted slogans against law enforcement
agencies for failing to provide adequate security to the people.
Meanwhile, a young man was shot dead by unidentified
armed men near the Metro Cinema in Orangi Town police limits.
The deceased identified as 25-year-old Asif, son
of Abdul Rasheed, was a resident of Sector 1, Orangi Town.
His body was shifted to the Qatar Hospital from where
his family took the body without completing any medico-legal formalities.
In Landhi, Bradar Khan and Sangeen Khan
were injured in a firing incident near Al Karam Textile Mills.
Funeral: The funeral prayer in absentia of Yousufzai
was offered at Mardan Chowk on Friday, which was attended by party workers and ANP provincial general secretary Amin Khattak
and Provincial Labour Minister Ameer Nawab Khan. The body of the ANP leader was taken to his hometown of Buner.
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