Lalitpur, March 2

Minister for Home Affairs Shakti Bahadur Basnet today said women’s representation in the National Reconstruction Authority was a must to address issues specific to women.

Speaking at the concluding ceremony of a two-day national conference on Gender Responsive Disaster Management organised by various organisations, including Jagaran Nepal, MAG, UN Women and Beyond Beijing Committee, in Lalitpur today, Minister Basnet said, “I will raise the issue of women’s representation in the NRA in the Cabinet.”

There is no representation of women in the executive committee, directive committee, National Reconstruction Consultation Council and other bodies of the NRA.

He also said that the government was serious about providing support to the earthquake-affected people without further delay.

Admitting that it was already too late to provide support to the earthquake victims, Minister Basnet said the declaration of the conference would be an important reference material for reconstruction activities.

He also urged all concerned, including political parties and civil society leaders, to help the government accomplish the task within the stipulated time.

Bishnu Bhandari, executive member of the NRA, said the government was beginning reconstruction works from Dolakha district.

“We will start providing grants to earthquake victims in Singati Village of Dolakha district from tomorrow,” he said, adding, “Currently 1,400 engineers and social mobilisers have been sent to the VDCs and municipalities to interview each household.”

He said the number of households in some districts do not tally with the number of households recorded during the 2011 census. “A total of 46,000 households were recorded in the national census 2011 in one of the districts, but as many as 85,000 households have been recommended for earthquake relief from the same district,” he added.

Bhandari also informed that the government would provide a grant of Rs 200,000 per household on installment basis. “But political parties are piling pressure on the authorities to also provide the grant to their cadres, who were not affected by the quake,” he said.

Similarly, the government also plans to provide soft loan of up to Rs 300,000 to women, people with disabilities and orphans and senior citizens. Bhandari also stressed that the reconstruction bodies should have equal number of men and women.

Manu Humagain, acting president, National Women’s Commission, also sought equal participation of women in the reconstruction authority.

Around 100 women from 14 districts worst affected by the quake had participated in the two-day conference.