Under the government formed mechanism, the task of the NGO is to be coordinated by a committee consisting of officials from the CBS and the NPC."Our experts have expressed serious concern over the delay in the survey. Although the authority provided all the necessary support to carry out the survey, the CBS and the NPC have failed to ensure completion of the survey even after two months. So, the NRA has decided to seek clarifications from them and ask them give a new deadline," said NRA spokesperson Ram Thapaliya.
He said that the NRA's executive committee, led by Chief Executive Officer Sushil Gyewali, will soon meet CBS and NPC officials to seek clarification over the delay and give them strict orders to expedite the task.
The NRA had formed a committee led by the secretary of NPC, Suresh Man Shrestha, and comprising of representatives from the CBS to carry out the survey in the quake-hit districts from January 27.
The findings from the survey will form the key basis for the entire reconstruction and rehabilitation tasks of the NRA.
Due to the delay in conducting the survey, the NRA has not been able to expand its grant distribution from Singati area of Dolakha district to the other quake-hit districts.
Officials at the NRA said that the authority has decided to pile pressure on the concerned authorities to immediately complete the survey in the 11 districts.
As per the agreement reached between the government and the Health Research and Social Development Forum, an NGO mandated to carry out the survey, assessment of damage caused by the earthquake cannot begin in the three districts of Kathmandu valley -- Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur -- until the survey is not completed in the worst-hit 11 districts.
Deputy Director General of CBS Rudra Suwal claimed that the CBS has completed almost 80 per cent of the survey in the 11 districts. However, the CBS cannot breakdown numbers of the damaged buildings village wise in the districts.
"We have completed survey of almost 550,000 houses, out the estimated 750,000 to 800,000 houses that were damaged by the earthquake. We will complete surveying remaining homes in the next two weeks," said he.
However, Secretary of NPC Suresh Man Shrestha, coordinator of the committee to carry out the survey, said it will take up to two months to complete the survey in the mountainous areas of some of the quake-affected districts due to snow. "Our engineers have not been able to reach villages in the mountainous areas even now," said he.
He, however, said that NRA can begin the grant distribution to the victims in the hilly areas of the quake-hit districts by the next two weeks.
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