The Army has demanded Rs 5 billion for rebuilding and maintenance of 1,109 infrastructures, including buildings at its headquarters, barracks, offices, sentry posts, accommodations, among others. According to the Nepalese Army, 372 structures need to be rebuilt from the scratch and 736 structures need retrofitting and maintenance.
"Although we have demolished most of the structures rendered unfit for use by the earthquake, including some buildings at the army headquarters, we have not been able to begin the reconstruction works in lack of budget," NA Spokesperson Brigadier General Tara Bahadur Karki said.
The Ministry of Defense has frequently followed up with the respective authorities for the allocation of the budget because of lack of proper communication among the related authorities. "Government's entire budget is focused on reconstruction of the damage caused by earthquake, but we have been only visiting ministry of finance, national reconstruction authority and planning commission with program file for the past half year," said defense ministry's Joint-Secretary Shiva Prasad Simkhada.
Finance ministry sources said that they are not inclined to delay the reconstruction of army infrastructures but that they would not be in a position to allocate budget without carrying out a detailed study of the reconstruction plans forwarded by the Army.
"Emphasis has been given to reconstruction of collapsed structures of the security agencies but it was delayed because some projects forwarded by the Nepalese Army were not endorsed by the Planning Commission," said Madhusudhan Adhikari, acting secretary of the National Reconstruction Authority.
"As all the responsibility has been shifted to the reconstruction authority recently, we are preparing to expedite the stalled reconstruction of the collapsed structures of the security forces, along with other reconstruction works," Adhikari added.
In many of the quake-hit districts, security personnel have been living under tents and offices have been set up inside temporary structures.
Related story
Authorities, local communities pledge to help in Dharahara reco...
