Inaruwa, April 23

As the chairperson of Debangunj Rural Municipality and respective ward chairs engaged in dispute, the relief package meant for distribution to the locals to assuage the hardship in the wake of the lockdown has been badly affected in Debangunj, Sunsari.

The dispute surfaced after the chairs of three wards expressed reservation over the standard fixed by the local government, ultimately affecting relief distribution.

Chairman of Ward No 3 Anil Kumar Bhagat said they had objected to the spirit of the decision taken by the rural municipality regarding the relief package meant for low wagers hit by the lockdown.

Earlier, the local level had decided to give relief materials to 50 per cent of households on the basis of the previous count of people within the ward, which was not acceptable to us, he added. He argued number of beneficiaries in his ward should be 721 households, but only 423 households would be entitled to get the support if things went as planned by the rural municipality.

However, Chair of the rural municipality Lali Prasad Mehata said the decision would be reviewed in future. But, for now, relief would be provided as per the decision stating that engaging in dispute instead of providing relief was not justifiable during the time of crisis.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on April 23, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.