RAUTAHAT, MARCH 31
Tens of millions of rupees meant to provide relief to the farmers who suffered damage to their crops due to freak weather is likely to freeze due to apathy on the part of majority of local governments to act in time, much to the chagrin of the victims in Rautahat.
Inopportune rainfall in October last year had caused a huge damage of crops in Rautahat. Following the incident, the Disaster Management Division of the government had dispatched a fund to the district to compensate the loss borne by the farmers. As laid out in the government correspondence, farmers in 16 local levels in Rautahat will get the relief.
Soon after the district administration office had received the circular from the centre, it had written to 16 local levels, except Dewahi Gonahi and Phatuwa Bijayapur, to provide the details of victims of inopportune rainfall as mandated by the circular. It had sought the name lists of the victims along with their bank accounts and details of the damage incurred.
Only a few local levels are said to have provided the sought details so far, responding to the correspondence of the administration.
"While Madhav Narayan and Katahariya municipalities and Yamunamai Rural Municipality have provided the required details, other municipalities - Gaur, Garuda, Brindaban, Gadhimai, Ishanath, Chandrapur and Durga Bhagawati - are yet to come along," said Sanjaya Jha, accountant at the DAO.
"The relief amount worth Rs 70 million has to be distributed within 60 days, as per the guideline; but as there is only three weeks left, the amount will freeze unless it is distributed before that deadline," Jha explained.
On his part, Chief District Officer Krishnahari Shahi lamented the apathy shown by the local governments.
He, however, pledged that the amount wouldn't freeze whatsoever. "Now that we have deployed staff from Agriculture Knowledge Centre to collect the details, it won't be long before farmers will get the relief meant for them," he said.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 1, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
