Rukum, July 28

The ongoing verification of the list of poor households that was developed recently in Rukum, and the management and distribution of identity cards to those on the list has revealed gross negligence on part of the involved parties in Rukum.

The list, that was prepared in two phases in 2012 and 2016 by deploying data collectors on the field, has omitted households that qualify to be on it and included middle and upper middle class households.

Information Officer at the Poor Household Identification and Identity Card Management Committee Rukum Chintamani Dahal conceded weaknesses in the collection of data.

“There were weaknesses during the filling of forms, but the problem is only in the data collected from a few places, not everywhere,” he said.

Following complaints of anomalies, the concerned authority had monitored three VDCs: Arma, Simli, and Garayala, covered in the data collected.

After confirmation of the existence of anomalies, the District Development Committee of Rukum has now issued a 25-day notice asking households other than that of the poor to withdraw their applications.

If the concerned families ignore this notice, they will face legal action, as per the decision of an all party meeting.

Meanwhile, around 5,000 applications filed for the status of poor households are now in the verification phase in the district.

According to Committee staffer Manju Mahat, around 8,000 households who sought the poor household status are almost set to get the status and identity cards.

Of the applications received, the highest number of applications 464 is from Aathbiskot, while 53 households from Pwang applied for the status.

The collection of application will continue till Saturday.