Actual number could be more than 25,000: Official

Kathmandu, December 6:

Internal displacement of people due to the conflict stands at 25,000, according to an interim report. However, the number of the internally displaced is likely to increase, under-secretary at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction Dhruba Sharma said of the report prepared by a 7-member task force.

The numbers could go a lot higher since the interim report is only based on the applications received by the internal displacement identification committee over the last four months. Sharma said the committee had collected data on the displaced people in the districts.

The committee, coordinated by former home secretary Shree Kant Regmi, is expected to submit its final report to the ministry sometime next month.

Under-secretary Sharma said that the ministry might even consider extending the term if

the taskforce demands for the same to ensure collection of accurate data even as the

report is in the process of finalisation.

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Ram Chandra Poudel, however, told the parliamentary Finance Committee today that the government was in a “dilemma” in identifying genuinely displaced people since it had also received several fake applications. Poudel was furnishing explanation to the committee members on whether the funds released for internal displacement were being used properly.

While the cabinet, in February, had decided to distribute compensation to the displaced people, the MoPR has already released Rs 20 crore for distribution to the internally displaced in 70 districts. The Ministry of Finance had released Rs 25 crore to the MoPR for the same purpose.

Each member of the internally displaced family is entitled to get Rs 60 per day for 120 days, while each schoolgoing child under 16 years of age gets a flat amount of Rs 2,400.

The government has also decided to allocate Rs 300 to Rs 1000 to each member of a family as travel allowance, according to the distance, to those returning to his/her home, while a member is entitled to get Rs 500 as fooding allowance on his way back home.

The MoPR can “ask for additional amount” to the Ministry of Finance if the total amount falls short while distributing it to the displaced.

Committee members, however, complained that the Chief District Officers did not work seriously to identify the genuinely displaced. Minister Poudel informed the lawmakers that those who have fled to India due to the conflict do not fall under the category of internally displaced people.