NRA yet to come to aid of Valley quake victims

Victims feel caught in policy trap

KATHMANDU, March 29: It was back in January 16 that President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the earthquake Reconstruction Mega Campaign amidst two separate functions in Kathmandu Valley and much fanfare, purportedly to instill hope among quake victims that the government would seriously expedite the work to relieve them of their months-long plight.

Two and half months on, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) and all other government bodies concerned have done virtually nothing concrete for the victims who have been staying in flimsy huts and other unsafe shelters in and around the Valley.

"Now, with this inauguration the reconstruction and rehabilitation task that had been delayed for months has taken off in earnest, and with this, it will take on momentum within days," the prime minister had announced at the function at Bungmati, Lalitpur. The same day, similar lofty announcements were made at a function at Ranipokhari, where the president laid the foundation stone for renovating Ranipokhari.

Following the mega event, the public expected that the government and NRA would expedite the reconstruction and rehabilitation that hadn't been able to pick up any momentum even 10 months after the April-May earthquakes. However, it again turned out to be just hoping against hope for quake victims in the Valley.

"The government has ignored us, doing nothing to begin the reconstruction here and focusing solely on quake-hit districts outside the Valley. We are suffering just like the victims in any other affected district. So, why this injustice to us alone?" said 30-year-old Gopal Dhakal, a quake victim of Shankharapur Municipality who is still living with his family at a temporary shelter like many other victims in the area. The municipality is one of the most-affected areas in the district. Around 50 locals lost their lives.

NRA has already started a damage assessment survey in the 11-quake affected districts outside the Valley since the inauguration of the reconstruction campaign. The result of the survey will be the key basis for distribution of the grant assistance of Rs 200,000 to each of the victims whose houses were completely destroyed by the earthquake. At Singati of Dolakha district, where the survey has been completed, NRA has already started the grant distribution albeit the process is moving at snail pace.

But much to the dismay of victims in the Valley, the reconstruction authority has not even started the preparatory work for its survey in the Valley.

NRA spokesperson Ram Thapaliya said that the survey will start in the Valley only after it is completed in the 11 other affected districts, and that will take more than a month.

According to officials, the survey cannot start in the three Valley districts as NRA has an agreement with Health Research and Social Development Forum, an NGO mandated to carry out the survey, to begin work in the Valley only after the task is completed in the other 11 districts.

Dhakal, the quake victim, said that they did not rebuild on their own as they feared that may make them ineligible for the Rs 200,000 from the government.

"We have waited for the government support rather than start rebuilding on our own, because the government has clearly announced that victims building on their own will not get the Rs. 200,000," said Dhakal. "This policy has compelled us to remain in such unsafe shelters. Neither can we do anything nor can we wait any longer. We are trapped by government policy."