Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) deputy chairman Maj-Gen Mohammad Azeem Asif inspected some under-construction projects in and on the outskirts of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) capital on Tuesday, passing platitudinous directions for accelerated progress and quality of work.
The visit coincided with a sit-in being staged by a civil society group since Monday against the alleged shelving of more than half of the projects originally pledged under the Muzaffarabad City Development Programme (MCDP).
As always, the Erra chief avoided interaction with local journalist community and instead the authority’s public relations department issued a ritualistic handout.
According to the handout, Mr Asif directed the project managers and contractors to complete multi billion projects including Saudi Arabia funded King Abdullah University, official residences of AJK president and prime minister and a city bridge within time.
He also directed concerned Erra officials to strictly monitor the quality of construction work.
State Earthquake and Rehabilitation Agency (Serra) officials also briefed Mr Asif on the progress of ongoing 1800 projects in health, infrastructure and education sectors, the handout added.
However, exasperated at alleged abandoning of around 70 reconstruction related projects and some other “discriminatory” actions of the AJK rulers vis-à-vis state capital, a civil society group set up a sit-in camp along the main thoroughfare outside press club.
Zahid Amin, a former head of Development Authority Muzaffarabad (DAM) who led the sit in, told reporters on the occasion that initially 105 projects had been conceived under the MCDP. However, of those, only 9 had so far been completed and another 22 were either under construction or in the pipeline, while at least 70 projects had almost been shelved.
He alleged that the MCDP authorities were hoodwinking the residents of Muzaffarabad through fake statements and claims.
Mr Amin reiterated a widely circulating allegation that the previous federal government had shifted Rs 55 billion from the reconstruction related funds to some other head, due to which the reconstruction programme had taken a nosedive.
“Ironically the present government has failed to return that amount and consequently most of the significant projects are being shelved under one or the other pretext,” he said…..Tariq Naqash
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