KATHMANDU: District Administration Office, Kathmandu, has mobilised monitoring and action recommendation teams to curb anomalies reported in relief distribution for the quake victims.

The government had announced an immediate cash relief of Rs 15,000 to each households, who lost their houses in the April 25 quake and subsequent aftershocks, to buy corrugated zinc sheets for the construction of temporary shelters.

According to DAO, it has mobilised five teams, each led by an under-secretary level official, after it received complaints about bogus documents submitted by several individuals of the same household to receive the cash relief.

“The teams will carry out on-site monitoring in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and other municipal bodies to catch the forgers and recommend DAO to initiate action against the guilty,” said a senior official at DAO.

DAO, Kathmandu, has also appealed to all to provide the teams with information, either verbally or in writing, to help the monitoring teams identify the fraudsters and bogus quake victims so that relief could be properly distributed among genuine victims.

DAO said it had received complaints of discrimination in distribution of immediate cash relief in local level, missing out the names of genuine victims entitled to the relief, falsified separation of family members of the same household to receive the relief amount, bogus registration of houses as fully destroyed in the quakes despite no significant damage, receiving cash from two or more districts with political influence, and staging fake divorce between spouses to claim the amount among others.

As per the government data, 35 of 75 districts were affected by the quake and subsequent aftershocks. The government has declared 14 most affected districts as disaster areas. Approximately Rs 12 billion has been released to the districts through the District Disaster Relief Committees led by Chief District Officers for relief distribution.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has directed all the local bodies to investigate into the alleged irregularities in relief distribution and initiate action against the guilty.

At least 8,880 people were killed and 22,309 were injured in the quakes.