The Maoist insurgents demolished various government buildings in the district on Feb 16, 2002, including buildings of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DWS) sub-division, Agriculture Service Centre (ASC), Nepal Agricultural Equipment Centre (NAEC), among others. The government is yet to repair or reconstruct the war-ravaged buildings.
Despite complete destruction of its offices, DWS have been using the devastated building for storage of equipments and drinking water. While ASC has shifted to a rental space, NAEC no longer has an office in the district.
The delay in relocating and repairing government offices has hit the locals hard. They are forced to purchase seeds, pesticides and agricultural equipments at high prices from outside the district. "We used to get agricultural related products at reasonable prices. Now we have no choice but to spend excessive amount on those items," said Purna Bahadur Kunwar, a local farmer of Sanphebagar Municipality-8. He added that they could no longer apply for the government grants to improvise their agriculture. "This is an injustice to all the farmers of Achham district," he opined.
Although the buildings for various government offices, including District Administration Office (DAO), Woman and Child Development Office WCDO), District Election Office and District Land and Revenue Office, among others, have already been reconstructed; these offices are yet to shift to their respective buildings due to poor quality of construction work.
According to Chief District Officer (CDO) Bhavishor Panday, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has started investigation on the quality of the constructed buildings.
"Although pillars of DAO buildings were erected for the second time, they are still not risk-free. Likewise, WCDO buildings leak from several places," said Panday. On the other hand, Prakash Raghubanshi, chief of Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, refused to comment on the matter.
As many as 141 people had lost their lives in the district on Feb 16, 2002 during the gunfight between the government forces and Maoist rebels. The deceased included 53 Nepal Army personnel, 51 Nepal Police personnel, two civil servants, 27 civilians and eight Maoist rebels. Most of the government buildings in the district were destroyed on the same day.
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