Abbottabad council members criticise delay in reconstruction

ABBOTTABAD: Several members of the district council criticised what they called mismanagement and slow work by the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) on under-construction schools.
Addressing the district forum of Awaz, an awareness and accountability programme sponsored by the UK Department for International Development, members of Abbottabad district council Tehmina Faheem and Babu Muhammad Khushal claimed that a number of schools in the district could not be reconstructed by ERRA due to financial constraints or other problems even 10 years after the 2005 earthquake.
Tehmina, who is also district president of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf women wing, said students had been suffering as the buildings of their schools had been demolished before award of new contracts.
Babu Muhammad Khushal pointed out that the building of Government Primary School Zaro Gali was demolished in 2008 by ERRA for reconstruction, but it could not be completed so far, affecting 120 students who have been studying in a local mosque.
Similarly, he said the Government Primary School Bagari, Primary School Rata and Primary School Kohar were damaged in the earthquake of October 26, 2015 and students there need alternate arrangements.
A basic health unit, he pointed out, had no drinking water, nor is there any permanent post of a doctor. Most of the girls’ schools have only one teacher, who cannot teach all students. He said the dispensary’s building in Likhala village is in a dilapidated condition where shortage of staff and medicines were routine problems.
He also said there was no maternity home in the area. Sajid Saeed and Bushra Waheed, woman councillors from Bagnoter Union Council, said that girls’ high school building, which was damaged in the 2005 earthquake, had not been completed yet and students were studying in the open.
Similarly, they said girls and boys have been studying in tents since their separate high schools in Seri area were damaged in the 2005 earthquake.