Pokhara, November 1

Six months into the deadly April 25 earthquake, hundreds of earthquake victims in as many as Fourteen VDCs of Kaski have yet to receive the government relief for building immediate shelters.

Kaski District Disaster Rescue Committee has yet to provide the relief amount to genuine victims as political representatives have submitted fake details of the quake victims. A group of quake victims have filed a case at the regional office of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority in Pokhara against the representatives of the political mechanism, saying they had submitted bogus details.

Kalika VDC Secretary Shobhakar Dhakal said though only 70-80 houses were damaged in the VDC, the report submitted to the committee claims that as many as 235 houses were destroyed in the quake. “The genuine quake victims have yet to receive cash relief,” he said.

Dhakal added that although he had requested the concerned parties to remove their cadres from the list of quake victims, they turned a deaf ear. Dhakal said he had also written to the DAO to re-assess the damage and distribute the relief amount to genuine victims.

DDRC has not been able to distribute cash relief to quake victims of Parche, Hansapur, Namarajung, Siddha, Thumki, Mauja, Deurali, Mijyuredanda, Majhthana, Ghandruk, Rupakot VDCs.

Account officer Mahesh Sigdel of Kaski DAO said hundreds of victims from 14 VDCs were yet to receive the relief amount. So far, Rs 40 million has been distributed to the quake victims, according to Sigdel.

Kaski CDO Krishna Bahadur Raut said his office had received a letter requesting re-assessment of the damage caused by the earthquake in 14 VDCs.