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Quake victims in Kavre deprived of aid

Countries
Nepal
Sources
The Kathmandu Post
Publication date
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NAGENDRA ADHIKARI, KAVRE

Sep 25, 2018- Earthquake victims who have applied for second and third instalments of housing reconstruction aid will have to wait at least for two months to receive the amount.

After the victims complete the construction of foundation of their house, they can apply for the second instalment of the aid. In the immediate aftermath of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, the government had decided to provide Rs200,000 in rebuilding aid for each household. It was later increased to Rs300,000 to be distributed in three instalments--Rs50,000, Rs150,000 and Rs100,000--to ensure that the quake survivors rebuild quake-resilient homes in line with the government specified standards and designs.

“It takes time to review applications due to difficult terrain and few technicians to tackle them,” said ward chairman of Roshi Rural Municipality-9 Kanchhaman Tamang, adding that it takes at least seven days to send recommendation letter after engineers verified the documents of quake-hit families.

Besides, each of those files is held over at Urban Development and Building Construction Division Office Unit for a month even after the ward office proceeds them. The victims will only be recommended for the amount after the verification of documents by the technicians at the division office.

Mahalaxmi Joshi, chief of the unit, lamented that the verification process had been delayed due to the lack of human resources. “It takes time to review files in local units,” she said, adding that it takes another two weeks to keep the data of quake victims in the District Coordination Committee and prepare cheques for them.

Even the banks are delaying while distributing the aid. “Banks also take time for clearing and other works. Most of the quake victims return from banks citing the shortage of money,” a staff at the District Project Implementation Unit said requesting anonymity.

Family of deceased not included on housing aid list

Nil Bahadur Tamang, who lost his mother Kanchhi in the devastating quake of 2015, has not been included in the

housing reconstruction aid list. “I don’t receive aid even though my mother was killed in the quake,” said Nil Bahadur, who has filed an appeal at the unit office for the aid. Nil Bahadur said he had filled up a complaint form, but his name has not been included in the aid list yet. The family of Nil Bahadur has been living under the hut for over three years.