Govt still surveying the quake-damage

100,000 families yet to get Rs. 50,000

Kathmandu, Mar. 4: 

It’s been about 22 months since the devastating earthquake hit the country and rendered as much as 715,000 families homeless, more than 100,000 households of the moderately hit districts have not received even the first installment of the house reconstruction grant.

Even after multiple announcements of the government and directives from the Prime Ministers to the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) to distribute the first installation of the grant, Rs. 50,000, families in the hills and mountains have remained helpless.

Moderately hit 17 districts include Lamjung, Chitwan, Tanahun, Khotang, Syangja, Palpa, Baglung, Gulmi, Solukhumbu, Kaski, Parbat, Myagdi, Arghakhanchi, Nawalparasi, Bhojpur, Dhankuta and Sankhuwasabha.

PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, after assuming the post of the chief executive, had directed the reconstruction body to distribute the first installation of the grant within 45 days. PM is also the chairman of the NRA.

According to NRA spokesperson Yam Lal Bhoosal, the government is still conducting the damage survey in those districts.

“The survey is on the final stage and will be completed in a couple of weeks. We will begin grant distribution immediately after the damage assessment,” said Bhoosal.

Even though the survey was done as per the verification model, it took a couple of months to accomplish it.

According to verification model, the surveyor doesn’t collect the data of the damaged houses again but verifies the data collected by the government earlier – in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

The NRA in November last year had claimed that within a couple of months every household which lost their house would receive the grant money.

The survey is being conducted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), with the financial assistance from the World Bank.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the UN supporting the successful implementation of peace building, humanitarian and development projects around the world. It conducted the damage survey in the severely-hit 11 districts and the Kathmandu Valley.

Meanwhile, the reconstruction body has said that approximately 798 families have received the second installation of the grant, Rs. 150,000.

According to Bhoosal, 600 families in Makwanpur, 78 in Dolakha, 71 in Sindhuli, 41 in Gorkha and 6 in Nuwakot district have received the second installment.

The quake affected households will receive the second installation only after completing their house construction up to the plinth level and money will be deposited in to their bank accounts following the inspection of the house by the engineers.

As per the survey of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), there are 553,058 households in the worst-hit 11 districts eligible to receive the house reconstruction grant of Rs. 300,000. But, tens of thousands families that failed to list themselves as the beneficiaries have expressed their discontent and filed complaints at the NRA, Hello Sarkar and other government agencies.