Kathmandu, February 12

The National Reconstruction Authority has identified 19,866 households as eligible to receive the government aid of Rs 100,000 for retrofitting of the houses damaged by the earthquake in 14 worst affected districts. Beneficiary households will receive the grant aid in two tranches of Rs 50,000 each, according to Yam Lal Bhoosal, spokesperson for the NRA.

Grant agreement for the retrofitting of individual houses will be signed once the Steering Committee of the NRA, which is led by the prime minister, endorses the guideline for retrofitting aid distribution. “Aid will be disbursed to the beneficiary households through banks and financial institutions similar to distribution of housing reconstruction grant,” Bhoosal said.

Beneficiary households will be urged to sign grant pact with local bodies — VDCs and municipalities. Central Level Project Implementation Unit of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development will see to it that the agreement is implemented.

Retrofitting will need to be carried out based on instructions of engineers deployed by the NRA in the quake-affected districts. The first instalment of the aid will be disbursed to begin the retrofitting from the trained masons who have good understanding of seismic retrofitting techniques.

Of the identified households eligible for the retrofitting grant, 4,150 are in Makawanpur district, followed by Kavre (2,415), Sindhuli (2,408) and Ramechhap (2,149). As many as 2,019 houses have been listed as beneficiaries in Gorkha, 1,494 in Dhading, 1,643 in Okhaldhunga and 936 in Nuwakot districts. A total of 667 houses in Lalitpur, 637 in Dolakha, 575 in Kathmandu, 376 in Sindhupalchowk, 280 in Bhaktapur and 117 in Rasuwa districts are listed as beneficiaries, according to NRA.

NRA has introduced two types of aid modality for the damaged individual houses — for reconstruction and for retrofitting. Quake survivors whose houses suffered irreparable damage during the earthquake will receive Rs 300,000 from the government to reconstruct their houses in three instalments. The houses that were partially damaged and are liveable after repairs will get Rs 100,000 in two tranches for retrofitting. A total of 626,695 households have been identified as eligible for housing reconstruction aid.

Meanwhile, the NRA has expedited the process of settling grievances lodged by quake survivors from the severely affected 14 districts who claimed they were left out during the beneficiary survey conducted by NRA.

According to Bhoosal, 21,459 households were found to be eligible to receive the house reconstruction aid while settling 85,814 grievances. NRA has yet to settle 111,716 grievances lodged by quake survivor households of the 14 districts.