Over 57,000 survivors of the flood in Sindh would probably not receive immediate cash relief as they have failed to collect their Watan cards at the end of the first phase of the cash transfer programme to flood survivors.
The Sindh government’s Rehabilitation Department of Provincial Disaster Management Authority revealed that a total of 57,084 flood survivors of the province have not collected their Watan cards from the sites of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
The flood survivors were supposed to collect their cards from the Watan card centres by June 30 to be eligible for funds disbursement under the Citizen Damage Compensation Programme (CDCP).
The department, while quoting NADRA, had directed the district coordination officer of the district governments to ensure that all the said beneficiaries should have collected their Watan cards by the June 30.
This decision of closing the phase-I of the CDCP by June 25 was taken in the workshop of the said programme held on May 5, and after that no cash transfer to flood survivors was to be made.
It is pertinent to mention here that Watan card is a scheme for rehabilitation of flood survivors and they would receive Rs 20,000 through NADRA in the first phase, whereas the survivors would be able to receive an additional Rs 100,000 for reconstruction of their houses.
According to NADRA’s data of July 7, a total of 1,684, 382 cards have been processed, and out of them 1,682,603 cards have been issued, whereas a total of 1,642,163 cards have been activated and a total of 30,685 cards have not been verified.
