Dhading victims left in the lurch

Dhading, April 24

Like many quake victims in several districts across the country, the victims of  Dhading are yet to receive proper shelter.

Despite a lapse of two years, displaced quake victims are scattered across the district. District Disaster Rescue Committee Dhading is yet to formulate a work plan for their rehabilitation in the northern part of the district.

According to Disaster Rescue Committee, quake and subsequent frequent aftershocks caused a loss of Rs 69 billion in Dhading alone. As many as 676 persons lost their lives in the quake.

The northern belt in the district was affected the most. A total of 163 people of Lapa, Sertung, Tipling, Jharlang and Ri VDCs were killed.

As many as 2,500 families were displaced due to the landslip risk following the quake.

District disaster rescue committee had managed 12 temporary shelters for the quake victims of 65 settlements of 16 VDCs including five most affected VDCs.

Bhola Gautam, information Officer of District Coordination Committee Dhading, said that of the 70,582 people included in the list of beneficiaries for house construction grant agreement, 64,724 were quake victims. The first instalment of Rs 62,890 was deposited in their bank accounts.

Of those who received the first instalment, hardly 20 per cent of them have built their house. Ministry of Finance had allocated Rs 65 billion to National Reconstruction Authority to distribute the first instalment of the grant for house construction to the quake victims.

Dhading Constituency No 2 lawmaker Guru Prasad Burlakoti said that many quake victims were yet to be included in the list of beneficiaries due to negligence on the part of the government and NRA.

Around 15,000 quake victims, who lost their homes in the quake, are yet to receive the grant amount. Majority of the people who received grant amount have failed to construct houses.  Locals bemoan that technicians deployed in the village are giving unnecessary trouble to those who have built their houses.

Nabaraj Pathak, a local, complained that engineers deployed for inspection were giving a tough time saying that house constructed was unfit though it was designed by the engineer dispatched by the government earlier.