Appeal from sewa organization:-
Please
remember our brothers and sisters how lost their families, houses and
in destructive earthquake, at this holy occasion of Eid-ul-Asha.
Sewa organization needs your donations to help out the earthquake victims.
Sewa organization wants to billet 350 fiber homes and free Schools and dispensaries in earthquake disaster areas.
Sewa organization needs your co-operation for this noble cause.
Please donate us, single hand can care only but joined hands can support.
Gen. Pervez Musharraf,
President of Pakistan,
President Secretariat (Personal),
Aiwan-e-Saddar,
Islamabad.
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR RIGHT OF OWNERSHIP FOR THE PEOPLE OF DHOBI AHTA, SARAY RATAN CHAND UNDER EVACUEE TRUST PROPERTY BOARD.
Dear Sir,
A community of laundrymen and people,
we had migrated from India to live in Muslim homeland of Pakistan in
1947 and had settled in Saraay Ratan Chand, Chowk Shah Alam Gate in the
Bansanwala Bazar, Lahore. The houses that we took up for living here
were taken over by the Evacuee Trust Property Board whose office at
9-Court Street, Lahore received rent from us. These houses were in
dilapidated condition and the Saraay Rattan Chand area itself was also
unlivable due to lack of drainage facilities. In the last 59 years, we
have repaired these houses with our meager incomes and also spent money
on the improvement of the area itself.
Meanwhile, the Evacuee Trust
Property Board kept charging the rent from us but did not spend a single
penny on repair of houses or improvement of the area. Now it has
increased the rate of rent by 1000%. We are a poor community and cannot
afford the rent at the new rate. We request the Government of Pakistan
to Grant us the Right of Ownership of our houses as it has done to
several kacchi-abadies of Lahore.
Yours Obediently,
INHABITANTS OF AREA
For Contact: Syed Qalb-e-Abbas &
Muhammad Yamin (Dhobi),
Saray Rattan Chand,
Namak Mandi,
Banswala Bazzar,
Chowk Shah Alam,
Lahore (Pakistan).
Musharraf takes serious notice of increase in rent by ETPB
Staff Reporter
LAHORE:
President Gen Pervez Musharraf taking serious notice of an increase in
the rent of properties owned by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB)
has directed the Minority Affairs Division secretary to take appropriate
action in this regard.
The president issued this directive on an
appeal by the SEWA (Shelter against Terrorism, Education for children,
Women's welfare and Availability of legal assistance) chairman.
President's Secretariat Director Admin-I Lt Col Sheikh Muhammad Jafer
Iqbal, in his letter no. 17282/2006/P-II on August 15, 2006 addressed to
the Minority Affairs Division secretary, said that he was directed by
the president to forward the petition for action as may be deemed
appropriate.
The SEWA chairman had appealed to the president
that there were over 45,000 tenants, commercial as well as residential,
in the trust's properties in Pakistan and the ETPB chairman instead of
solving their problems had increased rents by 1000 to 2000 percent.
He had suggested building schools, colleges,
basic health units and accommodations for students on vacant properties
of the trust, depending on the location of the sites. He also proposed
canceling the leases of the trust's all vacant commercial properties.
He had also appealed to the president to evict the builder mafia from the trust's properties.
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President of Pakistan,
President House,
ISLAMABAD.
Sub: EMBEZZLEMENTS OF EVACUEE TRUST PROPERTY BOARD ON THE PRETEXT OF
DEVELOPMENT.
Your Excellency,
This is to bring to your kind notice the high scale embezzlement by the
officials of the Evacuee Trust Properties Board (ETPB) in the garb of
developments. The fact of the matter is that ETPB has invented a novel
method of looting the Trust Properties in the garb of so
called "Development Plan". The method is, perhaps, even more complicated
than the sale of Steel Mills.
The device invented by ETPB is that the prize lands under the control and
management of ETPB are offered to the Builders for development. The
Developer is invariably asked to deposit a non-refundable security, which
is although in millions yet it is not even fraction of a percent of the
land cost. Then the developer is given a contract to construct the building
at his own cost and induct the tenants. For the induction of tenants the
developer receives huge amounts of PAGREES, which is non-refundable and
supposedly intended to recover the cost of construction. This lump sum is
the junk for which the builder constructs the building and wherein the
whole corruption lies. The reason being that every builder knows that the
cost of constructing such plazas seldom increases Rs. 600/= per sq. ft.
Whereas the money he recovers from the tenants for induction therein runs
into millions for a small shop measuring 100 sq ft or so. Then the tenant
becomes tenant of ETPB and pays monthly rent to ETPB. The Pagree and the
Rent are always according to the prevalent market value. The genius
officials of the ETPB have invented this foolproof method, to develop the
properties without spending money and sharing billions with the Builder
Mafia. On the one hand the Government and the public at large thinks that a
building has been constructed without a cost and the officials get
appreciation and at the same time they get their share of the cake without
any blame.
It may kindly be noted that the major portion of the cost of constructing a
building is spent on the acquisition of land. Similarly, the prevalent
Pagree in the market is about 60% of the cost of land and building. In case
of ETPB the cost of land is never paid by the Builder but the amount of
Pagree recovered by him is always on the prevalent market conditions which
includes cost of land and the building. This equally applies to the shops
and the offices.
Quite intelligently, the amount of Pagree likely to be recovered by the
builder for induction of the tenants is never determined before issuing
contract for the construction of the building.
In support of the above contention a similar agreement is enclosed
herewith. Kindly see that it does not mention the cost of construction nor
the amount likely to be recovered by the builder from the tenant for their
induction into the premises. Is this a lawful contract? Can Government
allow this? Should this repeat time and again? These and many other
questions, I leave, for your imagination and determination.
Number of similar agreements are being concluded by ETPB and the Builder
Mafia. A few advertisements issued by ETPB are annexed herewith. Apart from
these advertisements there are many more which have recently been issued
through press.
All of these properties came into control and possession of ETPB for the
reason being that all of these properties were trust properties donated by
philanthropists in the past, may be religious, charitable or educational
trusts. As such these properties can only be used for the purposes of
trusts created by the doners and not for building Commercial Plazas. ETPB
has failed to show the purpose of the trust to which each of those
properties was attached and whether those were places of worship or
attached to the places of worship. This distinction is of primary
importance.
If the purposes of those trusts have seized to exist then these can be used
only for some other charitable purposes and not for benefiting the Builder
Mafia and the corrupt officials of ETPB.
If no other purpose is available then these properties should only be used
for educational purposes or for building health centres and the like.
Therefore, it is most respectfully requested that this state of affairs
calls for an inquiry into the affairs of ETPB. The evil genius should be
brought to the book and the Trust Properties may kindly be protected from
the cluches of the looters and grabbers within and without ETPB.
Malik Younas Joiya,
Chairman, SEWA.
27, Mahal Street, Main Bazar,
Gari Shahu, LAHORE.
SEWA
A step towards community development
Background
The
Islamic Republic of Pakistan was founded in August 1947 as part of the
separation of British India. Pakistan has an area encompassing 796,096
square kilometers and is bordered by India, China, Afghanistan, Iran and
Arabian Sea. The population as of the 1998 census was 132.35 million,
as compared to 85.09 million recorded in the 1981 census. The average
growth rate over the past 10 years has been approximately 2% per annum.
According to the Pakistan Government's Statistics Division, the
population as of the end of 2003 was estimated at 148.72 million. As
indicated in Table 1, over 50% of the total population is less than 20
years old, while 52% are males and 48% are females. The
vast majority of the population lives in rural communities and
villages, which, as indicated in Table 2, comprise over 67% of the total
population.
According
to the National Ten Year Perspective Development Plan 2001 - 2011
prepared by the Government of Pakistan Planning Commission, there were
approximately 47 million people that fell below the food poverty line
defined as not able to incur the food expenditure needed to achieve the
minimum required level of calorie intake as defined as 2,150 calories
per day. Table 4 indicates the increase in the number of the population
considered under the calorie intake poverty line from 26.9% of the
population in 1986 to 28.7% in 2000.
According
to the Population Census Organization, the 1998 Census indicated a
literacy rate for the total population of 43.9% with females having a
significantly lower rate of 32%. Rural literacy was also recorded as
much less then the national average at 33.6% with females only achieving
a 20.1% literacy rate.
According
to The World Health Organization (WHO) life expectancy at birth for the
total population is 63.7 years for males and 63.4 years for females.
Infant mortality per 1,000 live births is 82. According to the Health
Division of Pakistan there were 906 hospitals in 2002 with over 101,500
registered physicians and over 44,500 registered nurses. Table 11
highlights other selected health facility indicators
Pakistan
is an under-developed country therefore, facing many disparities in
economic and social sector since the time of partition. Due to poor
economic structure and unavailability of proper social safety nets,
people of Pakistan are facing many social and economic problems. These
problems includes Child Labor, Gender discrimination,
What
is needed, right now more than ever, is a realistic consideration of
the problems that lie in the internal sphere of country. Socio-economic,
socio-religious, sectarian, and caste conflict in several parts of the
country is epidemic. Furthermore,
more than 47 million in Pakistan live in abject poverty - that is more
than half of the population of the country. Mass unemployment and
illiteracy are on the rise. The internal debt figures have more than
tripled. There is a lack of basic needs such as clean drinking water and
sanitation facilities. Infrastructure and the quality of education
continue to diminish rapidly. Unbridled drug and arms trafficking in
Pakistan are becoming more common and widespread.
Above
mentioned elements provided the basis for establishment of an
organization which can struggle for noble cause of strengthening the
society, development, stimulating values of rights, welfare of women,
children and marginalized communities. The initiative of setting up an
organization was envisaged by a group of young and energetic
individuals, for improvement in Socio-economic situation of marginalized
communities in Pakistan. The SEWA organization aimed special focus on
education of children and women empowerment through mobilizing
sustainable resources for community awareness, provision of free quality
education and basic health facilities in marginalized communities.
Registered under Societies ACT-(1860), in January 2003, SEWA initiated
its activities of social development in the rural communities of Punjab
focusing on the District Lahyya and Lahore.
Layyah district at a glance:
1. Population (000 Numbers) = 1,121
3. Population Density (per sq.Km.) = 178
4. Tehsils = Layyah, Chaubara and Karor Lal Esan.
5. Main Towns = Chowk Azam, Chowk Fatehpur and Kot Sultan.
6. Main Crops = Sugarcane, Wheat, Cotton, Gram and Guar Seed.
7. Main Fruits = Citrus and Dates.
8. Main Vegetables = Onion and Potatoes.
9. Forest (Area in Acres) = 34,338
10. Total Metalled Roads (Km) = 869
11. No. of Grid Stations = 7
12. No. of Telephone Exchanges = 18
13. Number of Industrial Units = 365
14. Major Industries = Cotton Ginning & Pressing, Flour Mills, Oil Mills and Sugar.
Location:
The Layyah is situated between the River Indus and Chenab in Sindh Sagar Doab in central area of Pakistan. In the North, there is District Bhakkar, Muzaffargarh in the South, Jhang in the East and D.G.Khan in the West across the river. The District is of semi rectangular shape and has sandy land.
Area:
Total area of the District is 6291 Sq.KM. It is 88 KM Long from East to West & 75KM Wide from North to South.
Total Population of the District as per 1998 census is 1,121,951(1.1 Million)
Urban population is 13% while rural population is 87%.
579000 are males and 542000 are females. Density of population in the district is 178 persons per square Kilometre.
Percentage break-up of the Rural and Urban population is 87.2 and 12.8 respectively.
Tehsil-wise distribution of Urban and Rural population is given in Table.
Organizational Structure
SEWA
organization is being administered on the basis of Governing Body, the
policy making body of the organization headed by the chairman, which is
subordinated by the Executive Body.
The Board of Governors comprise following members:
Ms. Nazia Malik (Chairman)
Mr. Fazal Kareem (Vice-Chairman)
Dr Khurram Shafi (General Secretary)
Mr. Habib-Ullah (Joint Secretary)
Mr. Waqas Hasan Najeeb (Finance Secretary)
Mr. Mahmood-ul-Hassan (Information Secretary)
Mr. Khurram Shahzad (Co-ordination Secretary)
Executive Body:
Mr. Malik Muhammad Youns Joyia CEO
Mr. Syed Ijaz u Din Jaffri Manager Programs
Mr. Muhammad Ahmed Director Administration
Mr. Malik Anwar Director Monitoring & Evaluation
Mr. Khizzar hayat Sial Manager Community Mobilization
Ms. Tahira Ambreen Director Trainings
Mr. Malik Anwar Senior Manager Monitoring & Evaluation
Vision
The "SEWA organization (SEWA)" is a foundation established for the specific
purposes of community development and alleviating poverty, providing
justice, legal assistance and establishment of a society free from
malice, illiteracy, injustice and terror. As a nationally recognized
non-government development organization (NGO), SEWA fulfils this primary
directive of its charter without regard to ethnic, political, racial or
religious association. This directive is an outgrowth of the deeply
held belief that human life is infinitely valuable.
Mission
The
Foundation seeks catalyze development activities by assisting
communities to initiate, plan and implement projects and programmes to
raise the standard of living of the people of Pakistan.
Objectives
The current primary objectives of SEWA are:
� Health
� Education
� Food security
� Emergency relief
� Economic development
� Peace promotion and conflict transformation
� Empowerment of women and women's advocacy
� To make people aware of judicial complexities and to provide legal assistance in the courts
Transformation of objectives
SEWA has translated these objectives into reality, through:
� Women's empowerment through action and advocacy
� Literacy and skill training for women and youth
� The establishment and provision of quality primary, secondary and vocational schools with advocacy for girl children
� Training female teachers at SEWA Teacher's Training Institute
� The development of women's cooperatives at the village level
� The establishment and continuing provision of primary health centres in rural areas of the country
� Please
concerts and rallies; forums for discussion; and, conflict management
and conflict transformation workshop developing the skills of local
leaders to more effectively mediate and solve disputes through methods
of non-violence
� Conflict medication; conflict resolution; and, conflict transformation between warring parties
� Hostage negotiations
� Working with local partners to help local businesses develop job opportunities for public
� Civil works in rural areas as development projects for welfare
� Urban planning, leadership, gender equality and training sessions
� Conduction awareness seminars promoting knowledge and information sharing
� Provision of cheap justice and promotion of moral valves
Activities undertaken by SEWA
SEWA
works very closely with local governments, elected representatives,
local leaders and other stakeholders at grassroots level to ensure
optimum participation of communities for long term sustainability of the
SEWA initiatives.
The organization during the
last four years has developed considerable expertise in educating rural
children through provision of non-formal and formal primary and
secondary education. The
organization alongside education of children has implemented a number of
programes for education of rural females and males. Organization of
local groups, their capacity building and strengthening has been an
ongoing activity of SEWA as part of human resource development aiming at
promoting rights based approaches among masses.
Under
its advocacy and awareness raising initiatives, the focus remained on
gender equity, importance of education particularly of girls, basic
human and legal rights, public education and media mobilization as a
stake holder. Adult literacy, job placement, economic empowerment of
rural as well as urban communities through provision of micro credit,
monitoring of District Government Elections, legal aid to the disputed
property holders of Hindu Auqaf, farmers and victims of other social and
legal injustice, mobilization of human as well as material resources at
local level, local conflict resolution, setting up and running of Health
Care Centres, preservation of cultural heritage, support to Red Crescent for
Tsunami victims, relief to earthquake victims, shelter for old people,
homeless and destitute particularly children has been the activities
under taken by SEWA.
SEWA at a glance
SEWA School System set up in 3 urban localities to provide primary and secondary education to under privileged children.
� Over 400 children getting free education in the SEWA Schools.
� 110 adult literacy centres set up in 45 villages of District Lahyya
� 50 skill development centres established
� About 3300 females and males between the ages 14 to 40 years furnished with literacy and vocational skills
� Maternal health care and treatment provided to more than 300 women.
� 3 Health Care Centres set up and more than 6000 people provided with free medical facility
� 285 Regular Blood Donors registered with SEWA whereas other donors available as per requirement.
� SEWA Blood Bank functional and 9 Hospital regularly provided with blood free of cost especially to 25 children suffering from thelisemia identified with other patients in emergent need. Also donated 485 blood bags for earthquake victims in AJK and NWFP
� Over 100 families provided with Micro credit and SMEDA loans
� Over 110 women organized as women groups and empowered.
� More than 7500 Hindu Auqaf affected individuals provided regular support on weekly basis
� Farmers, women, tenants and others provided with legal aid .
� Over 15 farmer groups organized and trained in local conflict resolution.
� Around Rs. 10000 and 1 truck containing quilts, grocery, clothes and other basic necessities provided to Tsunami victims through Red Crescent Society
� More
than 11 Truck containing quilts, grocery items and clothes and 485
blood bags provided to earthquake victims in the earth quake ridden
areas of AJK.
� 7 media campaigns organized to highlight various social issues.
� More than 110 Literacy and 10 SEWA School teachers provided training in various disciplines.
� More than 25 community members trained in Development Planning Management
� A women seminar organized with participation of more than 7500 women on gender issues.
� Four
Union Health Committees of local government Layyah re-activated with
the support of Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO)
SEWA Projects
Women Empowerment through Literacy and Skill Development
The
organization with the support of NCHD, Action Aid has implemented a
number of projects of literacy and skills training to equip rural
females and males with literacy and vocational skills. The programme was
launched in the district of Lahyya in 2004 and completed in 2005 aimed
at providing literacy and skills training to women and men of 12 to 40
years of age. Total 110 literacy and skill training centres were
established in 110 villages of the District out of which one centre was
particularly established for the gypsies and beggars in Lahyya, wherein
females were taught literacy skills providing them an opportunity to
choose decent earning options for themselves. Total 3300 people were
addressed under the said programme out of which more than
70
% remained women. The programme has created awareness among the target
group regarding its basic rights, thus inculcating a sense of self
esteem and self reliance among the women in particular.
SEWA School System
Provision
of quality education to out of school and dropout children has been one
of the major activities of the organization. Dearth of educational
opportunities for the under privileged rural and semi urban children,
low enrolment and retention rate particularly among girls remains one of
the major reasons of illiteracy in the country. Teacher's absenteeism,
corporal punishment, poor quality of education in public sector schools,
inadequate infrastructure facilities in the government schools further
aggravate the situation in rural areas in particular. Children,
particularly girls are faced with lack of educational, training and
recreational facilities. In this backdrop SEWA set up its three schools
to provide primary and secondary education facility to under privileged
children of one locality of Lahore and two localities of Layyah. Total
400 children between the ages 5 to 10 years are getting free education
and recreational facility in these schools. Books, stationery, uniform
and other learning materials are made available to the students enabling
them to enjoy their basic right to quality education and recreation.
Capacity of the teachers is built through regular training and refresher
courses. The trainings are focused on child rights, quality education
and enhancement of teaching skills.
SEWA Health Care Programe
The
organization since its inception has been active in providing health
care to those who are deprived of this basic human need, particularly
rural women. SEWA under this intervention set up-two dispensaries in
Lahore and Layyah wherein, medical check up and treatment is done by the
qualified doctors. Medicines,
blood, maternal health care and other facilities were made available to
the local population free of cost. After running the dispensaries for
two years linkages with local basic health units (BHUs) and hospital
have been developed and people in the need of medical care are referred
to the same and the dispensaries are functioning as blood banks. A
system is developed to help those who are in need of such support. 25
thelisemia patient children have benefited from the blood bank facility
on regular basis and 100 on emergency basis so far. Health camps are
organized on regular basis to cater to the health needs of the
communities in emergency situations.
A
group of women has been trained as Lady Health Visitors who pay door to
door visits to cater heath care needs of rural women, who particularly
suffer due to absence of this very basic facility and are the major
victims of the neglect at every level. 350 rural women have been able to
benefit from SEWA Health Care Programe for Women.
SEWA
is also serving the community of Lahore on issues regarding to family
plan by partnering with Family Planning Association a well know national
NGO. We provided different services at our servicing outlets located in
Lahore along with many advocacy and awareness events on family planning
and reproductive health.
SEWA Legal Aid Cell
SEWA
interventions encompass legal rights of people of Pakistan,
particularly those who have been victim of injustice due unawareness and
lack of knowledge and in formation, lack of resources and gaps in legal
systems. The organization in particular has targeted rural
women, farmers, tenants, minorities and those who have no access to
justice. 7500 Hindu Auqaf affectees including women have benefited from
the legal aid cell of SEWA and have succeeded in getting relief in rent
of the property in their use.
Capacity building of farmers in conflict resolution remains another area of work of SEWA.
Under this intervention 15 farmer groups have been organized in 15
villages of Layyah. Each group comprise of 18 members that include 14
male and 4 female. These groups have been provided trainings on conflict resolution and Development Planning Management Course through participatory approach.
Staff Capacity Building and Monitoring of Local Government Elections
SEWA
works closely with local government and elected representatives to
ensure their participation as stakeholders in its programes. One of the
activities undertaken by SEWA has been monitoring
of local government election of 2005 with the support of UNDP in 4
Union Councils of District Layyah. The organization will provide
training to presiding officers and undertake monitoring of local
government elections in the forth coming elections in the same district.
Micro Credit Programme
SEWA
has facilitated Kashaf Foundation in implementing its Micro Credit in
the project field areas of the organization. The micro loans have been
disbursed among the needy communities through identification of SEWA.
The aim of the organization remains to link the unreached ones with this
facility to improve their economic profile.
Awareness and Advocacy
Awareness
raising on basic human rights and lobbying and advocacy of the same at
various levels has been an on going activity of the organization.
Holding of seminars, workshops, trainings, meetings and media campaigns
to promote basic human rights has attracted a sizeable population who
participate in these activities, especially rural communities who have
been instrumental in inculcating rights based approaches among
themselves. The impact of the interventions can be traced from the
attitudinal change among the very conservative communities in terms of
their increased interest in education of children in general and girl
child education in particular, women participation in literacy
programes, women health, conflict resolution and stepping forward to
ask for their basic human and legal rights.
SEWA through its media campaigns has been able to provide relief to 7500 beneficiaries in terms of relief in rent and their legal right to property.
Future Plans
SEWA HUMAN DEVELOPMENT COMPLEX
� To
provide Health , Education, Literacy and Blood Bank facility under one
roof to under served communities / shelter-less children and women of the
country, SEWA plans toinitially set
up a Complex in Centre of Layyah City as a pilot project and desires to
replicate the same in 10 other localities, particularly in the under
privileged and far flung rural areas of Pakistan. A
10 acre piece of land has been offered in Layyah by the community as
donation for the said complex which is 5 Kilometer away from Chowk Azam
Khan on main road near centre of city Layyah.
� To establish a net work of primary and secondary schools to provide quality education to under privileged children.
� SEWA plans to upgrade its schools up to Secondary level established under its System.
� Women Literacy and skill training centres will be established in under served communities of Pakistan.
� Gender issues in rural communities will also be addressed through regular advocacy and awareness raising.
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