The budget was endorsed by Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund (PMDRF) on Wednesday as per the Saturday's cabinet decision to provide Rs 15,000 to each family to purchase corrugated roofing sheets and build temporary settlements.
Of the total amount, Rs 2 billion has been released by PMDRF and remaining Rs 2 billion by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
"As per the proposal of MoHA, we have released Rs 4 billion to purchase roofing sheets for people who lost their homes due to the earthquake," Laxman Khanal, joint secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM), told Republica, adding, "MoHA will use the budget to distribute Rs 15,000 each to affected families."Baikuntha Aryal, joint secretary of MoF, also said that Finance Ministry has released Rs 2 billion to MoHA to build temporary settlements for affected families. According to Aryal, the finance ministry has released Rs 6 billion to MoHA until Wednesday for different relief programs after the earthquake.
Laxmi Dhakal, spokesperson of MoHA, said that they will start distributing Rs 15,000 each to affected households in 14 districts. "We will distribute Rs 15,000 to each affected family," Dhakal said, adding that families can use the amount for buying corrugated roofing sheets to build temporary settlement.
Dhakal told Republica that the budget will be released into affected districts through concerned District Disaster Relief Committee (DDRC). "The DDRC will then distribute the budget to affected families," he added.
Meanwhile, Rameshwar Dangal, joint secretary of MoHA, said that assessment of affected families would be done before releasing the budget to the districts. "We will allocate the budget after identifying the number of dislocated families in each district," he added.
The government will provide relief amount to only those families whose house has been completely destroyed in the earthquake.
As per the preliminary estimates, more than 490,000 houses have been completely damaged in the affected districts. This means the government needs around Rs 7.35 billion to distribute Rs 15,000 to each affected family.
Officials said the amount would be sufficient to buy two bundles of corrugated roofing sheets required to build temporary settlement.
Meanwhile, the market has already witnessed shortage of corrugated sheets following steep rise in demand. This means it will be difficult for the quake-hit people to purchase corrugated roofing sheets despite the government's cash incentives.
Four domestic manufacturers of corrugated roofing sheets -- Bhagawati Steel Industries, Hulas Steel Industries Arati Steels Ltd and Rajesh Metal Craft Ltd – can produce a combined 13,000 bundles of corrugated roofing sheets per day which is insufficient to meet the market demand.
Realizing the fact, Ministry of Industry has started homework to relax customs duty on import of corrugate roofing sheets from China and India. Industry Minister Mahesh Basnet has also vowed to carry out regular monitoring to ensure smooth supply of corrugated sheets and stability in its price.
India and China are the major exporter of corrugated roofing sheets to Nepal. Traders said imports from these two countries meet around 50 percent of the domestic demand.
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