Looking back to 2005, most of us will remember with clarity the morning of October 8, when a massive earthquake jolted the north of the country and sent tremors all the way south to Lahore and beyond. The earthquake reduced the town of Balakot to rubble and a large number of people were killed in that natural disaster.
But as they say, life goes on. Balakot is still there, but it has lost the aura it used to have. The survivors who were fortunate enough to escape the earthquake were moved to makeshift shelters, with the promise that they would be provided with a proper housing scheme. But the authorities concerned have proven once again the timeless adage that promises are made to be broken.
New Balakot City, a proper housing society, was meant to be developed in order to accommodate the survivors of the earthquake. What woe that even after 9 years, the survivors still await the development of the proposed housing scheme.
This is the limit! Now the residents of Garlat and Balakot have set up a committee comprising 13 members to move the court if those responsible for the completion of the New Balakot City do not start development work on the project.
According to a news source, the development work on the project was suspended in 2011 after a protestor was killed. But four years have elapsed since that incident and the authorities concerned have still failed to restart work on the project. The survivors are still forced to live in makeshift shelters, robbed of the dignity that is the basic right of every human being.
A senior member of the survivors committee recently told reporters that the residents of Bakrial (the proposed site of the New Balakot City) were allegedly occupying the area. He also said the survivors could not receive any allotment letters until the project was completed, adding that the committee would meet Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) officials and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minter Mr Pervez Khattak to request them to complete development work at the society.
We wish the survivors of October 8, 2005 the very best of luck and request the authorities concerned to look into the matter and have a heart. Just because you have a home doesn’t mean everyone else does as well, and your job is to make sure they do.
Related News
2005 earthquake is considered one of the key events where whole nation united but on ground we have ghost town. few years ago there were clashes between ERRA and bakrial residents with casualties. probably locals are unable to understand the benefit of having a nicely developed locality in neighborhood and its impact on their land values