SINDHULI, JUNE 30: Even amid incessant rains, earthquake victims of Sindhuli have to rush to the office of the District Project Implementation Unit to receive the housing reconstruction grants. After the government set the deadline of June 29 to submit the documents for the grant for housing construction, the quake victims have left the plantation and lined up at the office with umbrellas to collect the grant. Although the initial deadline was fixed till June 29, considering the problems of the service recipients, the office accepted documents till June 30.
As the reconstruction work in Sindhuli is still incomplete, though almost seven years have passed by since the earthquake, there is a large queue to collect earthquake grants at the office.
More than 40,000 beneficiaries of Sindhuli, who were affected by the devastating earthquake on April 25 and May 12, 2015, are still rushing to the office to get the reconstruction money after being included in the list of the beneficiaries of the Rs 300,000 housing grant provided by the government.
50 pc quake-hit private houses rebuilt: NRA
According to the District Project Implementation Unit Office, Sindhuli, under the Urban Development and Building Construction Department, there are 40,308 beneficiaries of reconstruction in the district. Of them, 38,936 people have signed the grant agreement and 38,815 people have already taken the first installment of the grant. Similarly, 38,108 people have taken the second installment after laying the foundation of the house, while 37,074 people will take the third installment after completing the construction of the house, said Nayab Subba Laxman Karki, a government official.
According to the office, there are 12,604 beneficiaries in Sindhuli district whose houses need to be retrofitted. Of these people, 10,635 have taken the first installment of Rs 50,000 while only 1,580 people have so far signed the agreement for the second installment and participated in the grant process.
As the government set a deadline, the beneficiaries were in line all day on Wednesday carrying umbrellas. Nayab Subba Karki of the office informed Republica that the people have to wait in line all day long due to lack of staff to work in the office. “I came today after hearing that the deadline ends today (Wednesday),” said a beneficiary, Chhabilal Kumar.
The Ministry of Finance has not sent the grant amount even to the beneficiaries who have already submitted all necessary documents. According to the office, it is not in a position to pay even the beneficiaries who submitted all required documents to the office as early as last December. Ever since the government scrapped the National Reconstruction Authority in April, the work of housing grants has been carried out by the project office. However, the office said that it was difficult to work due to lack of enough human resources in the office.
