Grant to be given to vulnerable families wanting to shift to safer place themselves

Kathmandu, June 30

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has said that any household in the vulnerable settlements identified by the government wanting to resettle themselves in any other area will get a grant of Rs 200,000 on top of the Rs 300,000 that the government is providing as grant for the reconstruction of houses.

As per a study carried out by NRA a few months back, 2,361 families across 14 earthquake-affected districts need to be relocated to safer places.

“We have been developing integrated settlements in different earthquake-affected districts to shift the vulnerable settlements. However, any household under the vulnerable settlements identified by the government can resettle themselves and we will provide them an additional Rs 200,000 grant for resettlement,” said Govinda Raj Pokharel, chief executive officer of NRA.

The NRA has identified 112 settlements in Keraunja of Gorkha, Selang of Sindhupalchowk, Khalde of Rasuwa, Urleni of Nuwakot and Besimpa of Dolakha as vulnerable zones after the quake.

Earlier in the third week of April, the reconstruction authority had also announced that it would provide an additional grant of Rs 200,000 to the landless quake survivors to purchase land.

“We cannot force families in the vulnerable settlements to shift to integrated settlements being developed by the government. This is why we have given such families an option to take an additional aid of Rs 200,000 from NRA to buy land and relocate to a place of their choice,” added Pokharel.

The NRA had passed the relocation procedure of identified vulnerable settlements in the second week of April. The procedure has defined vulnerable settlements as any settlement considered vulnerable on the basis of the report of geological study.

Similarly, the relocation procedure has also encouraged at least 10 households from among the beneficiaries to form a user committee for the selection of a safer place to build an integrated settlement.