NRA to form Grievance Hearing Committees

Kathmandu, July 1: The National Reconstruction Authority Friday decided to establish committees at different levels to hear and manage grievance of people about the reconstruction of physical infrastructure including private houses, and economic and social rehabilitation.

According to the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Related Grievance Management Guidelines, 2073, prepared by the NRA, there will be four-tier grievance hearing and management committees – Grievance Management Committee at VDC/municipality/ward level, Grievance Hearing Committee at district level, NRA’s Sub-Regional Offices and Central Grievance Hearing Committee.

“The committee at the VDC or municipality level will be coordinated by the executive officer of the respective agency while such committee at the ward level of metropolitan or sub-metropolitan cities will be led by the ward secretary,” informed NRA spokesperson Ram Prasad Thapaliya.

The complaints registered at the VDC, municipality or metropolitan city level will be addressed by the district level Grievance Hearing Committee chaired by the chief district officer.

Local Development Officer, chief of District Police Office and head of District Project Implementation Unit will be the members of the district grievance hearing mechanism.

According to the NRA, after the implementation of the new grievance hearing mechanism, most of the complaints of the quake-victims would be addressed at district level.

The reconstruction body had decided to establish grievance hearing mechanism a couple of weeks ago after it was flooded with the complaints.

As many as 89,863 households registered their complaints to the government so far claiming that although they were eligible enough to obtain the grant, they were not included in the beneficiary list.

According to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD), Dolakha had received the largest number of complaints.

Approximately, 15,923 complaints were registered in Dolakha.

As many as 14,903 complaints were filed in Gorakha, 13,000 in Sindhuli, 12,775 in Ramechhap and 8,928 in Nuwakot districts.

Quake victims can file their complaints if they were left out in the damage survey, any households have more than one individual as the house owner, failed to submit the required documents, relocation and rehabilitation of settlements and other pertinent issues related to the reconstruction.

Likewise, people can register complaints related to opening bank account, money not deposited to their account and problems in approval of the designs of houses, informed the reconstruction body.

Complaints can be sent via electronic medium like e-mail and SMS or in written form.

Sub-Regional Offices has the mandate to monitor whether the grievances of the people were addressed properly.

Meanwhile, the MoFALD informed that the first installment amount of the house reconstruction grant had been deposited into the bank account of 18,654 households.

The number of households receiving the grant money by Thursday was 13,616.