SIALKOT
During a government team’s visit, dozens of flood affectees here gave vent to their anger against the alleged injustice meted out by the district administration through their “favouritism” by depriving them of the compensation announced by the Punjab government.
During the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team’s visit, the victims said that 40 percent of flood affectees had been deprived of compensation announced by the Punjab government. The CMIT visited the Sialkot border villages following the complaints lodged by the local flood affectees.
Led by Punjab Disaster Management Authority Director Muhammad Shahid, the team recorded the statements of the affected people. CMIT also took serious notice of their complaints. The affectees in villages including Saalehpur, Chaprar , Patwal, Patwal Khurd, Patwal Kalan, Suhailpura, Resmaan, Bara Dari, Beli, Jhumiyaan Gujjaraan, Nadaala and Chah Beriyaan said that more than 40 percent of the affectees had been totally ignored by the district administration.
They further told the CMIT that the officials of the Sialkot Revenue Department and Patwaries had prepared “fake” lists of the flood affectees depriving the genuine affectees of compensation.
The flood affectees said that more than 40 percent, what they said, genuine flood affectees were still deprived of financial compensation of their damaged houses, crops or cattle as well. On the occasion, the officials of the district administration told the CMIT that the payments of all the financial compensations had already been made to the affectees. They said that no flood affectee was left unpaid.
Sialkot DCO Nadeem Sarwar has already suspended from service local Patwari Babar Sadique for his alleged slackness in this regard. The growers and small farmers told the CMIT that they were unable to plant crops in their fields where the floodwater has left behind up to five to six feet sand and mud.
They added that the flash flood had badly ruined their seasonal crops on more than 2,500 acres of land in these villages. They said that they were totally dependent on crops and they had been suffering great financial crisis after the post-flood scenario. The affected tenants, small paddy growers and farmers also urged the government to declare the flooded villages as calamity-hit, besides waiving their agricultural loans, taxes including Abiyaana to give financial relief to them.
They revealed that their fields had become part of the River Tavi in flash floods during September 2014. They said that the land owners were demanding the lease money but the tenants had lost their paddy crops in the flash flood. They said that now early declaration of these flood devastated villages as calamity hit could save them from financial crisis. They said that the sand was in huge quantity and they were unable to remove it from their fields, and urged the government to remove the heaps of sand from their fields.