Phidim, July 31

A sum of Rs 101.9 million was spent on various programmes meant for poverty alleviation in the past fiscal in Panchthar.

The budget was allotted from the government’s Poverty Alleviation Fund.

As per data available with development partners executing those programmes, as many as 56,335 residents of the district were direct beneficiaries of the programmes, which have incorporated a total of 11,363 households of the district.

Those programmes were launched through Panchthar Chambers of Commerce, Human Rights Consciousness and Development Centre, Nepal Alternative Energy Development Centre and Sirijunga Gramin Bikash Kendra in the district.

“A revolving fund was mobilised by forming as many as 441 community-based organisations to execute the programmes,” said Mangal Begha, Nepal Programme Coordinator of Human Rights Consciousness and Development Centre.

According to Begha, of the total budget, 68 per cent was invested in animal husbandry, 7 per cent in vegetable farming, 11 per cent in grocery, five per cent in medicinal herbs, 3 per cent in tailoring and the remaining 6 per cent in other sectors respectively. Apart from these, Rs 50.4 million was spent on infrastructure development. A total of 38 infrastructure related to drinking water, one each related to irrigation and cardamom refinement were constructed with the budget in the fiscal. However, of them four infrastructure are yet to be completed .

Under the poverty alleviation project, the poor families have been classified into three groups based on their farm produce. The families whose produce can’t feed them for more than three months have been termed extremely poor, the produce that is just enough to feed them from three to six months as average and the produce that can feed for more than six months but less than a year have been termed poor.

A total of 5,598 households have been judged as extremely poor, 3,714 as average poor and 2,051 families

as poor.

Aiming to alleviate the poverty, programmes related to social mobilisation, capacity enhancement, income generation and rural community infrastructure development have been launched.

The representatives of four partner organisations, at a district level review programme in Phidim today, underscored the need to enlist them in the local levels and execute development programmes through them.

The newly elected chiefs and deputy chiefs of different rural municipalities and municipalities of the district pledged to support continuation and expansion of such programmes to mitigate the adverse effects of poverty in the district.

District chiefs of various government offices, mayors and deputy mayors of Phidim Municipality and other municipalities of the district, chiefs and deputy chiefs of rural municipalities, representatives of social organisations, and officials of poverty alleviation fund and its programmes also were present at the review today.