KATHMANDU, April 7: Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has started the process of collecting data for the 'Poor Household Identification and Identity Card Distribution Program' from today.
According to the government's commitment to extend essential services to economically disadvantaged families, the KMC is undertaking a census of impoverished households within its jurisdiction.
KMC to collect data of poor households from April 7
According to Statistics Officer at the KMC Krishna Raj Tiwari, 209 enumerators and 21 supervisors have been assigned to identify the poor within the metropolis.
He said that one enumerator will collect data from 250 households within a month and manage the time and manpower accordingly. He stated that the majority of enumerators have been allocated to Ward 16 and 32, with 21 enumerators each.
On the other hand, according to Ganesh Prasad Bhatta, spokesperson and joint secretary of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, the government has already distributed identity cards to poor households in 49 districts, while preparations are underway to distribute identity cards to 15 districts. He said that the calculation of poor households has been completed in all municipalities except Kathmandu metropolis of the remaining 13 districts.
Spokesperson Bhatta said that the Kathmandu Metropolitan City will count the number of poor households and the ministry will handle data processing.
The initiative to collect data on poor households was initially launched in 23 districts back in 2013. Although there exists a legal provision for the renewal of ID cards for the poor every five years, no such renewals have taken place thus far.
