• Many searching for new places to live • House rents up • Tenants forced to move to upper floors

HNS/ RSS

KATHMANDU: With many houses destroyed or damaged due to the April 25 massive quake and subsequent aftershocks, getting rooms/ apartments on rent has become

a massive challenge in Kathmandu.

The day-to-day life of many people living temporarily in the capital for various reasons, including for work, studies and business, has been severely hampered, as they are now devoting most of the time to search a suitable place to live in. Many people left for their home towns while some are living under tents since the quake struck.

Some of the tenants have complained that landlords have been increasing the rent. Hello Sarkar, a hotline telephone service of the government, has been receiving complaints of people not getting a room on rent and landlords charging exorbitantly.

Some house owners, who earlier used to live on the upper floors, of late have decided to shift to the ground floor. This has given some tenants additional problems.

Kaluram Shrestha, 38 of Thankot, owner of a five-storey house, said, “It is easy to run to open spaces from the ground floor if earthquake strikes. While

I was in living in the fifth floor, getting out to open space is

difficult.”

Sita Kumari, 25, of Balkumari, who is into her six months of pregnancy, lost her balance and fractured her right leg while running down the stairs of a four-storey concrete house when the powerful aftershock struck on May 12. She was quickly rushed to National Trauma Centre for treatment. “If I had shifted to the ground floor after the first devastating quake of April 25, it would have been be convenient to run to nearby open space,” she said.

The tenants, who have been forced to shift to upper floors from the ground floors, are living amid fear. The tenants were asked either to vacate the ground floors and search for new houses or move to the upper floors. Shyam Pudasaini, 42, of Jhapa, said he had to shift to the third floor of a five-storey building as he did not have any other option. “I have not been able to sleep properly ever since I shifted to the upper floor from the ground floor,” he said.

But there are landlords in Kathmandu who have waived a month’s rent, considering the sufferings that their tenants underwent. “The quake actually also helped improve relations between landlords and tenants as they were living together in the tents after the quake,” says Rupesh Yadav, originally from Saptari and now living in Kirtipur.

Uttima Bhandari, who owns a house in Kalanki, said she decided to waive a month’s rent to provide some relief to her tenant who suffered loss during the quake. “This is the time for everyone to come and help each other,” she said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier issued a statement, urging all house owners in the capital and urban centres not

to increase the rent. However, with renting service yet to come under the local authorities’ radar, enforcing the directive itself a challenge.