An emergency field monitoring jointly conducted by the Prime Minister's Office, National Vigilance Center and the District Administration Office (DAO) verified that the relief, which was to be provided to earthquake victims whose house were damaged beyond repairs or were completely destroyed by the earthquake, was provided to others as well on the basis of understanding between local political parties.Kavre's Administrative Officer Arjun Rijal, who was a part of the investigation in Mahadevsthan VDC, informed that the relief was distributed by local parties with an agreement to give it to one house, one family and one card. "This is clearly against the government's decision to provide it to only those households whose houses were completely damaged or damaged beyond repairs," Rijal said.
The investigation revealed that 150 families of ward number 2, 4, 5, 8 and 9 of the VDC, whose houses have suffered only partial or minimal damages, were also provided the relief. The DAO had provided an advance payment of Rs 34.950 million for the 2330 families of the VDC whose home were damaged beyond repair through VDC Secretary Arjun Bahadur Khatri on June 21.
"A VDC secretary led relief distribution committee comprising of representatives of six political parties had earlier decided to provide the relief to only households whose house were completely destroyed and who had no alternative place to stay. But the relief was provided even to families whose house were partially damaged on the recommendations of three political party representatives," Rijal said.
Such irregularity came to the fore after some of the 2330 families that had been approved by the government's technical team for the relief did not receive the relief amount from the VDC. They were turned back stating that the entire aid amount had been used up. Preliminary investigations claim that the relief had been wrongly distributed to around 150 households.
"During the first two days, distribution was carried out according to the relief distribution guidelines. But thereafter, political party representatives in the relief distribution committee manipulated the process and distributed it to ineligible houses," VDC secretary Khatri said adding that the office was unable to verify the claims of those households due to lack of manpower.
In Khahare, Pangu and Shikharambote VDC similar irregularities came to the fore. The relief amount given to these VDCs was not totally spent. Instead of reporting to the concerned authorities, the surplus amount was distributed to partially damaged households on the basis of understanding among local political parties.
"We have got reports that the relief was distributed by registering additional earthquake victim families on the basis of understanding among political parties. What is the need for sending technical team for assessing the damages if such decisions are made at the local level?" questioned Bishwanath Dahal, president of VDC Secretary Welfare Center.
"The VDC secretary cannot distribute the extra relief amount like that on the basis of decision taken by local political party representatives. The relief cannot be distributed like that unless it is approved by the District Natural Disaster Relief Committee," added Dahal.
Meanwhile after three months of the earthquake, earthquake victims of Budkhani VDC recently got the relief amount. Relief distribution to the 556 families was obstructed by representatives of Nepali Congress. They had denied allowing the distribution unless sufficient relief amount for all households was provided. The relief was distributed to the victim families through police intervention last week.
Besides these representative cases of embezzlement Kavrepalanchowk DAO has received many other reports of irregularities. Some cases filed at the DAO claim they have been deprived of the relief despite being eligible, and some cases report that some families have wrongfully claimed the relief by falsely reporting that the spouses were divorced and living separately.
"Cases of various frauds are being reported to us from across the district. Reports also claim that some households who had wrongfully received the relief want to return it but were being discouraged from doing so by political party leaders," informed Dahal.
Investigations revealed most households are applying for the class "Ka" identity card under the belief that the card will help them get government relief perks and even assist them in getting visas.
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