KATHMANDU, June 30: The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development on Wednesday deputed 58 section officers as VDC secretaries in the 11districts worst hit by the earthquakes of last year.

The ministry has decided to depute the section officers as VDC secretaries in the districts for the next three months. It is for the first time that the ministry has decided to depute such large number of section officers for the post of VDC secretaries.

Of the total 575 VDCs in the 11 quake-hit districts, 114 VDCs were without secretaries even after the process of distributing grants to the quake victims for rebuilding the collapsed houses began.  

"But with the ministry's decision on Wednesday, the vacant VDC secretary posts have now decreased to 56. And we will fill the remaining the vacant posts as soon as possible," Joint-Secretary of the ministry Dhan Bahadur Shrestha said.

He said that the ministry decided to mobilize section officers keeping in view of the heavy work load in the quake-hit districts.

"In lack of VDC secretaries, the grant distribution process could not gather momentum. So, we decided to deploy the section officers for the next three months," he said.

He said that only 6,000 quake victims of the total 180,000 quake victims who have signed grant agreement with the local authorities have received Rs 50,000 as the first tranche of the total grant amount of Rs 200,000 in lack of VDC secretaries.

"But now, the deputed officers will expedite the grant distribution process in the VDCs where the process had failed to gather momentum in lack of VDC secretaries."

He said that the ministry aims to complete the grant distribution process to all the 533,454 households in the 11 districts identified as eligible for the grants.  

"Apart from signing the grant agreement, the VDC secretaries will also accept the complaints registered by the quake victims who have been left out from the grant distribution process and take necessary steps to incorporate them," Shrestha said.

In mid-April, with the aim of attracting civil servants to the posts of VDC secretaries, the government had decided to provide them an incentive of up to 50 percent of their monthly salaries. But there were no takers. As a result, the ministry was facing tough time filling the vacant posts of VDC secretaries.

 
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• ministry of federal affairs and local development
 
• districts