MUGU, Nov 23: Sexagenarian Sangbo Lama of Mugum Karmarong-4 was elated after his family and other 18 neighboring families were handed a well-managed five-room newly built house with a toilet on November 16, eighteen months after their shelter turned to ashes back in April 2018.
“The odds I encountered after inferno were bitter and more intolerable than what I had experienced when I used to carry loads on my back from Tibet taking months and collecting rice from Sinja and Achham,” said Lama adding, “The very incident haunts me time and again although I had gone through more difficult times.”
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Not only Lama, but other 18 households are also thrilled after having been awarded new houses. However, they were not happy with the Karnali provincial government for its attitude to them after the incident.
Temporary Shelter after inferno
“The government gave only beaten rice and noodles, while we needed more than that,” grumbled another local Karma Wanju Lama. According to him, the government had provided the inferno victims of Kalikot with Rs 500 thousand. “We are really upset with such a discriminatory treatment by our government,” lamented Lama.
However, the story didn’t remain the same. A non-governmental organization Human Rights and Environment Development Centre (HuRENDEC) built five-room for each of the household. The locals now say they have no words to thank the organization.
According to HuRENDEC, those houses were built with economic assistance from Back to Life. A total of Rs 12.5 million was spent in building those 19 houses which cost Rs 645 thousand each, informed HuRENDEC.
