Quake victims cry foul over 'unfair distribution' of relief

DHANKUTA, Jan 7: Gyan Bahadur Rai of Chhintang village has been frequenting the District Administration Office (DAO), Dhankuta since months with hopes of getting a red card and relief amount of Rs 15,000 given to quake victims who have had to dismantle their houses. But his pleas have fallen into deaf ears, Rai complained. On the other hand, his neighbor received both quite easily, according to Rai.

"This is Nepal, nothing goes fair" he fumed.

Rai's house had sustained serious damages due to the earthquake and after the government announced to provide Rs 15,000 to the families who pull such houses down, Rai did it. He argued that he deserves to have red card meant for quake victims as he's among the quake displaced.

Shankar Bishwokarma (BK) of Pakhribas municipality also decided to do away with his quake damaged house. His house was pulled down in presence of the municipality staff, police, representatives of several political parties and the Red Cross-Nepal. BK said that he had hoped to get the relief amount as well as soft loan to rebuild another house.

"Now I'm under a hut as nothing happened as expected," said BK. He also expressed dissatisfaction over the 'discrimination' done among the quake victims. "Why are they giving relief to some and depriving others of it? We are also earthquake victims," he said.

There are hundreds of quake-hit families in district who are angry about the 'incomprehensible law' regarding relief to quake victims. Their question is:
Why some are getting relief and some have been left out?

BK said that the announcement to provide Rs 15,000 for dismantling damaged house as well as the much hyped talk about rehabilitation quite deceived them.

"Had the government said nothing, we would not have expected anything. Then, we would taken steps accordingly," BK said. “The victims at least had a house, though damaged, but the government deprived them of even that,” he alleged.

Chandra Bhadur Aathpahariya of Dhankuta municipality is another such person extremely unhappy with the uneven distribution of relief amount. He has not pulled down his house though. But his house is not livable. "Nobody has come to see the house. I don't know which department I should contact to get help," he said while pointing to his fragile-looking house that even lacked a proper roof.

In Dhankuta district, 69 families are awaiting the relief amounts and red cards after pulling down their damaged houses. According to CDO Bijay Narayan Manandhar, only those who had come to claim for the relief within four months of the earthquake were provided it. "That was the home ministry's order. Later, we stopped giving that," he said.

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