Kathmandu, September 18 More than 70 per cent of the households that were affected by the devastating earthquakes last year in the 11 quake-hit districts has obtained the first tranche of the government’s aid for individual house reconstruction in their bank accounts during the Nepal Reconstruction Authority’s 45-day long campaign that concluded today.

Housing grant distribution in 11 quake-hit districts

District Beneficiaries Grant agreement Received first signed tranche Gorkha 58,503 49,758 48,658 Dolakha 51,762 43,861 41,779 Ramechhap 43,609 40,779 39,759 Nuwakot 65,759 55,925 37,148 Kavre 67,665 55,485 46,738 Sindhupalchok 78,537 74,184 72,037 Dhading 70,581 58,191 37,646 Sindhuli 34,256 24,899 19,162 Makawanpur 30,238 17,355 9,743 Rasuwa 11,236 9,003 6042 Okhaldhunga 19,818 17,915 17003 Source: CLPIU, MoFALD A total of 375,715 households out of 533,155 beneficiaries have received the first instalment of the grant till today, according to the Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU), under the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development. Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA), on August 5, had announced that it would distribute the first instalment (25 per cent) of the government’s grant worth Rs 200,000 by September 18. Though the NRA was not able to achieve its target, however, the progress in distribution of the grant is substantive. Prior to the campaign, only 42,882 households had received the first tranche. According to CLPIU, 447,359 households have signed agreements with the local bodies under the supervision of the NRA till today. The number of households that had signed grant agreement had stood at 295,724 before the campaign was started. The pace of the grant distribution and agreement signing process will continue in the coming days as well, said Ram Sharan Thapaliya, spokesperson of NRA. The NRA has also started settling complaints lodged by the quake survivors in the 11 quake-hit districts. A total of 163,767 households have lodged complaints at the reconstruction authority citing that they were left out during the beneficiary survey commissioned by NRA. According to NRA, a total of 918 complaints in Ramechhap district have already been settled.