Some affectees received the first checks but when they tried to cash them, the checks bounced. Affectees were also told that they would not be receiving the second check either. As of now, no compensation or emergency funding has been given to affectees.
What Are the Checks For?
When the government started demolishing houses, KMC agreed to offer affectees a meagre compensation of 15,000Rs a month for rent for two years. The money would be handed out every 6 months via a 90,000Rs check for each affectee.This plan did not take into account the land value, construction cost losses, transport of belongings to new home, or that fact that it is nearly impossible to find a home for rent in Karachi in 15,000rs. Small and large families of 2-20 people were all given the same 15,000rs to find a new home. Again, impossible.
How Are the Checks Given Out?
The NED study was based on aerial imagery via a drone. The students marked houses based on the images but this method made it harder for them to distinguish between houses, calculate number of floors, or give them an idea of how many people live there. Each home was given an ID number in the study. This ID number was later spray painted on the houses. There are multiple accounts of faulty ID numbers with multiple homes and families receiving the same ID number or a single household receiving multiple.
The checks are based on these IDs: families were asked to give their ID number to KMC to get the checks. Due to the faulty nature of the IDS, several families ended up having to share the already meagre 15,000rs compensation.
But now even those are bouncing, so people aren’t even receiving those.