KATHMANDU, April 17: In a bid to expedite the complaint investigation process, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has started preparations to deploy civil engineers to look into grievances filed by the survivors of 2015 Gorkha earthquakes in 11 most-affected districts.

Spokesperson Yam Lal Bhoosal said the NRA will train the engineers within a week, adding two to three engineers will be deployed in each of the 11 District Administrative Offices (DAOs).

As the NRA has authorized the DAOs to investigate the complaints before registering them in NRA's data processing system, the engineers will provide technical assistance to DAO officials.

The NRA has received more than 205,200 complaints related to reconstruction grant amount from 14 most-affected districts. And, the authority has already launched the process of addressing 93,374 of the complaints.

“DAOs have already got the authority to investigate the complaints, but they lack technical manpower. So our effort will be aimed at assisting the DAO officials,” said Bhoosal. “Previously, we [the NRA central office at Sigha Durbar] were investigating the complaints through photographs, but now, the engineers will conduct on-site probe.”

According to Bhoosal, the engineers will be deployed at the office of NRA's district coordinating committee secretariat in 11 districts. 

“The number of complaints from earthquake victims is rising by the day, by only a few have been addressed so far,” he said. “This fresh initiation is expected to accelerate the process.”

As per the existing guidelines, a district-based complaints committee under the CDO accepts complaints lodged by the quake survivors.

A source said the latest NRA move is aimed at discouraging the trend of non-victims taking undue benefits.

NRA data show the majority of complaints are from quake victims whose names have not been included on the list those eligible for grants or whose houses were left out during the victim identification survey.

 
• national reconstruction authority
 
• civil engineers
 
• most-affected districts