Dolakha, February 18

Disbursement of government housing grant to earthquake victims has been affected due to  lack of fund in Dolakha.

According to National Reconstruction Authority District Project Implementation Unit Grant Management and Local Infrastructure Office in Dolakha, distribution of the grant has halted for the past one week due to lack of budget.

“It’s around one-and-half months since we wrote to the higher-up seeking additional fund worth Rs 1 billion, as the amount hasn’t arrived, grant distribution has stopped,” said Nirmal Darshan Acharya, chief of the office.

“We had sent letter to the higher authority three times, but there was no response,” said Tika Joshi, computer operator at the office. Joshi added that every day his office received around 500 recommendations for the grant.

Grant amount of more than 2,100 quake victims has been stayed. Of the 2,100 victims, over 950 have applied for second and third instalment.

As per the office, a fund worth Rs 251 million is needed to distribute to quake victims whose grant instalments have been stayed.

On his part, National Reconstruction Authority joint-spokesperson and information officer Under- secretary Manohar Ghimire said they received the letter week ago only and that the funds would be released soon.