Signing of grant agreement halted in Kavre villages

Kavre, May 15

The much-awaited signing of the reconstruction grant agreement between the government and victims of last year’s earthquake has been halted in Kavre as a large number of victims complained that they were not included in the list of beneficiaries.

The government had declared it would distribute Rs 200,000 as reconstruction grant for each victim family, whose houses were damaged in the quake.

The National Reconstruction Authority had started the agreement signing process from Rabiopi VDC of the district on April 10.

Of the total victims of the VDC, 970 households were included in the list.

The signing of reconstruction agreement, however, has failed to continue after a large number of locals from Panchkhal, Katunjebesi and Chalalganeshsthan, among other VDCs, started agitating and demanded a repeat data collection so as to include the missed out names.

Earlier, representatives of various political parties had decided not to cooperate with NRA officials as many of the locals were not included in the list.

“Though we are in a hurry to complete the signing of grant agreement at the earliest, the task has been left in limbo due to non-cooperation from locals,” said officer at NRA’s Dhulikhel Sub-regional Office, Chanchal Kumar Khadka.

According to Khadka, although as many as 970 victims were listed, only 764 have signed the agreement so far. “The remaining victims have yet to present necessary documents,” said Khadka.

Similarly, signing of the reconstruction agreement has lost momentum in Patlekhet, Katunjebesi, Chalalganesthan and Panchkhal, though NRA had started the process on April 24.

Only 120 people from Patlekhel have signed the agreement till date, informed Khadka.

NRA had published the names of victims of as many as 61 VDCs. Khadka said the authority would try to forge consensus by holding a meeting among NRA officials, members of parliament, Chief District Officer and Local Development Officer at the earliest and expedite the agreement signing.

Kavre Chief District Officer Bal Krishna Panthi said the number of individuals submitting memos had soared of late.