Home Ministry officials have insisted that it is already getting very late and has proposed to start distributing the relief amounts to the victims not later than this week even though the government bodies lack detailed information for identifying the genuine victims.
They have said that they won't be able to withstand pressure from the victims at the local level any longer if they aren't provided the relief money within a few days.But the Ministry of Local Development has said that the relief distribution process cannot be started immediately as government officials deployed to the quake-ravaged districts are yet to identify the real victims and come up with the details concerning those in need.
They have said that distributing the relief amounts without adequate preparations and just for fending off mounting pressure may only complicate matters.
"Without identification of the real victims, there is a high risk that the relief amounts may go into the wrong hands. Distributing relief money just to fend off pressure and criticism will invite another crisis instead," said Purna Chandra Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Local Development Ministry.
The government released funds on Thursday to the disaster relief committees in all the earthquake-affected districts for building temporary settlements. The Home Ministry released Rs 2.2 billion for all the quake-affected districts, to be distributed at the rate of Rs 15,000 each to families that have been left homeless. The money is meant for building temporary shelters in view of the fast approaching monsoon. The ministry has also sent samples of the victims' identification cards to the district disaster relief committees.
But in lack of proper identification of the victims, the distribution of the amounts in the 14 highly affected districts has not yet started and this delay has already drawn widespread criticism.
Officials at the Local Development Ministry said that the delay in collecting data on the actual victims is mainly due to the failure of the Central Disaster Relief Committee under the Home Ministry to coordinate with the Ministry of General Administration. The General Administration Ministry has deployed over 1,300 of its people in the 14 affected districts to assess damage and report the number of actual homeless to the respective district disaster relief committees within a month.
"But the central committee and the district committees did not coordinate properly with the assessment teams. So, even after a month, the assessment teams in the districts are yet to come up with the data," said Dipak Subedi, joint-secretary at the Local Development Ministry.
However, Rameshwor Dangal, joint-secretary at the Home Ministry, claimed that as the monsoon is approaching and the victims are growing desperate to get the relief amounts so that they can start building temporary shelters, the district disaster relief committees are to go ahead start the relief amount distribution within two days.
"Our district chapters in Gorkha, Dhading and Lalitpur are going to identify the victims and distribute the money right from Tuesday because we can't wait any longer. In the other affected districts, the distribution will start more gradually," he said. Even in those three districts, the district disaster relief committees did not have factual data.
While the Home Ministry is of a mind to distribute the relief amounts just to allay criticism, officials at the Local Development Ministry do not want the district committees to start distribution without preparations.
As there have been no elected representatives at the local bodies for over a decade, political consensus is most important in order to avoid possible disputes while distributing relief materials. "We should not rush the relief distribution as we lack factual data on the victims and political consensus is yet to be forged at the local level," said spokesperson Bhattarai.
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Development Prakash Man Singh asked officials of the ministry to complete all the preparations and start distributing the relief money within a couple of days. But the officials told him that the distribution shouldn't be started without compiling particulars about the victims.
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