Lamjung, January 8

As many as 1,364 quake victims from Lamjung district have received the third instalment of the housing grant offered by the government till date.

Around 13,959 quake victims have been included in the beneficiaries’ list in the district. Of them, 13,495 have signed the grant agreement. According to Chief of National Reconstruction Authority District Project Implementation Unit Office, Lamjung, Usesh Shrestha, a total of 13,124 victims have received Rs 50,000 as the first instalment of the grant, 5,354 families have received the second instalment and only 1,364 have received the third instalment.

Most of the victims, who signed agreement and received the first instalment amount, have not received the remaining amount even after completing their houses. Project Chief Shrestha said his office could not provide quake victims with second and third instalments as the reconstructed houses did not meet the government criteria.

Government and non-government organisations have spent Rs 1,626,300,000 on construction of houses in the district.

NRA District Implementation Unit Focal Person Shiv Regmi said the government spent Rs 1,546,800,000 and non-governmental organisations spent Rs 79,500,000 on reconstruction of houses in the district.

Meanwhile, NRA Lamjung, today informed that local levels would verify the reconstructed houses in the district.

At a programme at Besisahar today, NRA informed that people’s representatives, administrative heads of local levels and stakeholders would be given authority to verify houses constructed after the earthquake to expedite the process. Earlier, quake victims were forced to visit the district headquarters for verification of their houses.