The ministry’s Deputy Spokesperson Ram Prasad Bhattarai said that ministry’s budget has been reviewed as the April 25 quake and its aftershocks left thousands of people severely injured and orphaned many children. “We have restructured our annual programme and forwarded it to the National Planning Commission,” Bhattarai said.

The ministry has sought Rs 2.04 billion for the next fiscal year. The government has allocated Rs 1.59 billion for the ministry this fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the National Planning Commission has asked ministries to allocate at least 15 percent of their budget to infrastructure development.

“Our biggest reconstruction works will be rebuilding the old age home at Pashupati and the Bal Mandir orphanage, both of which have been badly damaged by the quake,” Bhattarai said. The ministry has also planned to construct community buildings across the country. Bhattarai said many quake-displaced people could get shelter if such buildings were there in each community.

Likewise, the ministry will also provide shelter to children who have lost their parents and the elderly who have no one to take care of them after the quake.

The ministry has already arranged shelter to those left disabled by the quake at Khagendra Nawajeevan Organisation at Jorpati in the Capital.