Reconstruction drive stops with grant nowhere in sight

Kavre, January 19

More that a year-and-a-half has passed since the April 2015 earthquakes, but many victims whose houses were completely destroyed in Kavre still have no roofs over their heads.

So far, 60,914 families in the district have received the first installment of the government-provided grant. Since then, however, the reconstruction drive has started to slow down.

According to reports, around 1,080 houses in the district have begun construction, but construction work has stopped because the government has not provided the second installment yet.

“I had to wait a long time to receive the first installment, and I began building my house as soon as I could after that. I did not want my family to pass the winter in a temporary shelter. But the government has not distributed the second installment yet, and construction works have come to halt,” said Aaitesingh Mijar of Panchkhal Municipality.

Another tremor victim Krishna Poudyal of Deupur said, “The sum of Rs 50,000 given in the first installment is not even to even build the foundation for a house. Winter is already here, and we don’t know when or even if, we will receive the second installment.”

Another victim Sanjaya Tamang claimed that he was not included in the list of beneficiaries of the housing grant, although his house was completely destroyed in the quakes.

According to reports, around 70,000 families are living in temporary shelters in the district alone.

The District Natural Disaster Rescue Committee, however, attributed the sluggish reconstruction to the engineers’ agitation. “The amount allocated as grant is not a decision we make, it falls under the government’s jurisdiction,” Dholakraj Dhakal, monitoring and administrative officer at Kavre District Development Committee, said.

Second instalment distributed

Sindhulimadi, January 19

The second installment grant amount is being distributed to earthquake victims for construction of the earthquake resistant houses in Sindhuli.

The grant amount is being distributed to the victims as per the work progress from the first installment evaluated by the technical team.

Chief District Officer Tara Bahadur Karki said that Rs 150,000 was offered to 73 victims of Sitalpati VDC in the first phase. CDO Karki informed that a cheque of collective amount for the second installment Rs 10.95 million was handed over to Rastriya Banijaya Bank, Jhangajholi branch, Ratmata.

It is said that around 600 quake victims had constructed earthquake resistance houses in the district.

The disaster focal person under the district development committee said that as many as 30,000 victims had received Rs 50, 000 as first installment while 6,000 victims have started to construct houses.

The reconstruction authority had published a list of 34,269 houses among damaged houses by in the district.

Of them, more than 4,000 victims are yet to receive the grant amount of the first installment due to the lack of supportive documents. Meanwhile, more than 15,000 victims have filed complaints with the concerned authority saying that their names were not included in the list of beneficiaries though they were real victims of the disaster.