Stating that various donor agencies have been hesitating to deposit the aid money in the Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund, the parliamentary panel has instructed the government to set up a separate Heritage Protection Fund to collect foreign aid for reconstruction of damaged heritage sites.
The Department of Archeology (DoA) has estimated that it would cost more than Rs 8 billion to reconstruct 700 heritage sites damaged in the quake across the country. The committee issued the instructions after discussion with secretary at the land reform ministry, director general of the Department of Archeology and representatives of ‘Guthi Sansthan’ at the meeting on Thursday.
“Various national and international donor agencies have been reluctant to deposit the aid money in the PM relief fund, thus this committee directs the government to set up a separate fund for the purpose,” reads the decision.
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Secretary at the land reform ministry Lok Darshan Regmi suggested minimizing the internal expenditure of Guthi Sansthan for reconstruction of quake-hit heritage, cultural and archeological sites.
Chief Administrator of Guthi Sansthan Narayan Chaudhari informed that the institution has Rs 1.75 billion in reserve money.
Director General of DoA Vesh Narayan Dahal said the department is yet to collect actual figures of the damages caused to heritage sites by the recent earthquake. “But as per our estimate reconstruction of various historical and cultural sites would cost more than Rs 8 billion,” said Dahal.
Meanwhile, the committee has instructed Guthi Sansthan to collect details of the damage caused by the earthquake to the cultural and heritage sites. The committee has also directed concerned authorities to retrieve buried and lost artifacts and valuable goods from the risky buildings.
