GORKHA, Jan 29: Reconstruction in Barpak, the epicenter of the Gorkha Earthquake is encouraging as compared to other parts of the district, officials involved in the efforts claimed. According to Ram Sharan Acharya, chief of the reconstruction unit in Gorkha, reconstruction in Barpak is ahead of all areas in the district.
“Reconstruction work could not go ahead in the expected momentum since the beginning, however, as of now, we can say that reconstruction works in Barpak have been moving ahead at remarkable intensity,” Acharya said.
There are two municipalities and nine rural municipalities in Gorkha. Overall, Acharya said that 63 percent of the total reconstruction works in Gorkha has been completed.
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In Gorkha Municipality, there are 10,094 beneficiaries in total and of them 7,000 have built their houses and have received the final or the third installment of the housing grant. After the government announced to provide following installments only after the house designs met the standard set by the government, many had even reworked on their house designs.
“Locals did complain of hassles in the lack of monitoring and support from government officials. They were angry too. But, now things are going smooth,” Acharya said.
In Palungtar Municipality, 5,000 of the total of 9,000 beneficiaries have received the final installment of the housing grant.
In Barpak Sulikot Rural Municipality, 80 percent of houses have been rebuilt. Of the 7,181 beneficiaries in the rural municipality, 5,721 have received the final installment.
“We will very soon announce that Barpak has completed reconstruction. The progress has been very smooth,” Acharya said, adding that even public infrastructures have been well built in Barpak.
Post-earthquake most of the schools in Gorkha were unable to run classes as school infrastructures were mostly destroyed. Some schools operated classes under the open sky. Acharya said that most of the schools have already rebuilt infrastructure and fully functional. “There are still some areas where schools are not being run well as before, but a vast majority of the schools in the district have been rebuilt. Some of the schools rebuilt with the support of the government, while some others were aided by non-government organizations and individuals,” he said.
