Lawmakers airing their views at the meeting of the parliament's National Disaster Management, Monitoring and Direction Special Committee on Tuesday suggested to the government to provide at least Rs 50,000 to those whose houses were destroyed in the quake so that they can cope with the difficulties they may face during monsoon.
They also said that the government's decision to provide two bundles of corrugated sheets is insufficient and they suggested providing at least four bundles.
Former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and other lawmakers Bishnu Paudel, Yubaraj Gyawali, Krishna Sitaula, Gopal Man Singh Shrestha, Keshav Budhathoki, and Kunti Shahi were among those offering the suggestion.
"We have to assume that on an average there can be six members in a family. So, temporary houses should be built accordingly," Paudel said at the meeting, where Deputy PM Bamdev Gautam, Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat and Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Narahari Acharya were present.
Top Bahadur Raymajhi and Rekha Sharma of UCPN (Maoist) were for providing at least Rs 100,000 to the victims so that the people can make a decent house.
Mahat, however, said providing money to thousands of victims wasn't as easy as suggested by the lawmakers. Stating that 550,000 buildings were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of other structures were damaged in the quake, Mahat said the government would require a huge amount of money for reconstruction.
"Similarly, 10,000 school buildings, thousands of health posts and hundreds of government buildings such as the Prime Minister's Office and Supreme Court need to be reconstructed," he said. "Also, we mustn't forget under-construction projects shouldn't be affected due to allocation of money for reconstruction of quake-hit structures."
Govt to build temporary houses for fire victims