KATHMANDU, July 12: The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has said that local authorities' have been compelled to put the grant distribution process in districts worst-hit by the last year's earthquakes to back burner due to the overload of administrative tasks they are required to complete before the current fiscal year winds down in mid-July.

“Compared to the previous month, we have signed fewer agreements as officers in the local authorities are quite busy handling administrative tasks,” said NRA spokesperson Ram Prasad Thapaliya.

Of the total 533,155 households identified as eligible for receiving the grant amount of Rs 200,000 in the 11 districts, the local authorities have signed agreements with 233,984 households for distributing the first installment grant amount so far. The NRA is distributing Rs 50,000 to the quake victims as the first tranche.

Even among the 233,984 households that have signed agreement with the NRA, only 30,265 of have received the first tranche.    
     
Earlier, the NRA had set a deadline of mid-August for distributing the first installment grant amount to all eligible households for reconstructing their demolished buildings.

“But we could not complete the distribution task on the set deadline. But still, we are trying our best to sign a grant agreement with as many quake victims as possible,” Thapaliya said.

He said that the confusion over banks quake victims would get the grant from had also slowed the process of distributing the first installment.

“So, we decided to designate banks for releasing the first installment after consulting the victims. The victims who have signed the grant agreement will soon start getting the first installment,” he added.

Last week, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development had sought additional manpower to give momentum to the grant distribution work.

 
• national reconstruction authority
 
• grant distribution process