Kathmandu, October 16

The beneficiary survey of the earthquake affected households carried out by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has been concluded in Kathmandu Valley and sent to the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). A total of 115,671 quake-affected households have been surveyed in the Valley, according to CBS.

Beneficiary survey in Kathmandu Valley was carried out in the second phase after the survey in 11 quake-hit districts outside the Valley was concluded. CBS has carried out the survey of the households in the Valley based on the list of households that received Rs 15,000 as immediate relief from the government through the concerned municipalities and village development committees (VDCs) to build transitional shelters as the quake damaged their houses.

The CBS has submitted the status of the surveyed households in the Valley in different phases and the executive committee meeting of the NRA on October 7 has decided to forward the list of 55,000 beneficiary households to the concerned municipalities and VDCs through Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU) — a mechanism formed under the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development to distribute housing reconstruction grant — for the grant agreement signing. The NRA will soon send the list of all beneficiary households to the concerned municipalities and VDCs for the grant agreement signing, according to Ram Prasad Thapaliya, spokesperson of NRA.

“NRA has already instructed the municipalities and VDCs in the Valley to sign grant agreement with the households listed as eligible to receive the government’s aid.”

According to Dhundi Raj Lamichhane, director of CBS, the number of beneficiaries can come down by 10 to 20 per cent of the total surveyed households in Kathmandu Valley because some of the houses that received immediate relief from the government to build temporary shelters have been found to be strong enough for people to reside in.

“CBS was informed that 121,118 households received immediate relief from the government after the earthquake to build transitional shelters but during the survey 5,447 households did not approach CBS,” Lamichhane told The Himalayan Times. “If there are any affected households that have been left out during the survey due to lack of information they can participate later through the grievances hearing mechanism set up by NRA.”

Earlier, CBS had conducted a door-to-door survey in 11 quake-affected districts outside Kathmandu Valley. But in Valley it chose to go through the list of affected households made available by municipalities and VDCs.

Ganesh Raj Osti, project director of CLPIU under MoFALD, has informed that the grant agreement signing will start very soon in the Valley. Similar to the beneficiaries outside the Valley, beneficiaries in Kathmandu Valley will also receive Rs 50,000 as first instalment for the reconstruction of the houses. The NRA will provide the grant worth Rs 300,000 in three instalments.

The amended Grant Distribution Guideline of NRA, which was approved by the prime minister-led steering committee but yet to be endorsed by the Cabinet, has proposed to distribute Rs 150,000 in the second instalment and the remaining Rs 100,000 as final instalment.

There are 531,964 households listed as beneficiaries in 11 quake-hit districts outside Kathmandu Valley and 463,110 households have already signed grant agreements with local bodies to obtain the government’s aid. According to CLPIU, 420,882 households in the 11 districts received first tranche of aid worth Rs 50,000 as of Friday. Similarly, 173,778 households lodged complaints at NRA citing they were left out during the beneficiary survey despite being affected by the quake.