Number of quake beneficiaries crosses a million

 Additional Rs. 31 billion required for the grant

Kathmandu, Mar. 13: The number of total reconstruction beneficiaries in the 32 districts hit by the devastating 2015 Gorkha Earthquake has crossed a million adding additional Rs. 31 billion burden to the government.

As the government is conducting another survey to address the grievances of the quake-affected families, the number is likely to go even higher.

Following the review of 330,000 grievances registered to the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) by the quake affected households expressing dissatisfaction over their exclusion from the beneficiaries of the house reconstruction grant, 90,000 families were found eligible for the grant which surged the number to 902,371.

Likewise, 40,000 families were added to the already existing 61,891 beneficiaries of retrofitting.

The added numbers have created new liability of Rs. 27 billion and Rs. 4 billion for the housing grant and retrofitting respectively. Till now, the government liability was Rs. 243 billion for the housing grant and Rs. 6.1 billion for retrofitting which included 812,371 and 61,891 families respectively.

Meanwhile, the government is commencing yet another survey of the damaged houses in order to address the grievances of the quake-hit families that were not included in the initial and revised beneficiaries' lists.

The NRA is preparing a team of engineers and communication experts to send to the quake-hit locations to assess the situation. It has organised a 2-day training for the District Senior Engineers and Management Information System team from the 32 quake-hit districts. The training has started in Dhulikhel of Kavrepalanchowk district on Wednesday.

New survey work will start from the next month, and it will be done with the support from the respective local body.

The ward office will make the initial assessment and recommend the households for the housing or retrofitting grant to the municipality or rural municipality, and the local body will approve the recommendation from the ward after getting it verified from an engineer.

"The NRA will make the survey only on the basis of local body's recommendation. It’s a fact finding work and I have directed to work cautiously. We don't want to leave any genuine quake-victim family behind," said NRA Chief Executive Officer Sushil Gyawali.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 14 March 2019.