More than a year on after the massive 7.6 Richter scale earthquake heaved Nepal, aid money for the survivors in Dolakha is yet to trickle through largely due to the snail-pace effort of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA).

With the monsoon season just off the block, the failure to reach to those in desperate need is to be blamed also on the unabashed lack of coordination between NRA, the District Development Committee (DDC), the District Administration Office (DAO) and Residence Construction Office among other government bodies.

The engineers have already arrived in the quake-stricken villages but the absence of cash has remained a nagging factor. The quake survivors who were initially motivated with the arrival of engineers are a despairing lot and have been deprived of the opportunity to rebuild their homes.

The government offices are mired by ringing disputes related to their designated tasks and duties. The government staffers with NRA are under accusation of not working at all despite being handed over huge amount of salaries.

An official with the DDC said that they (NRA staffers) arrive to the office to only earn the money provided by the Authority while 'our secretary does all the work'. How can this be possible, he questioned.

The NRA started distributing grant assistance from Singati Bazaar from March 13 with an elaborate flourish. Then NRA Executive Chief, Sushil Gyawali, had promised to ramp up the work of supporting the victims. Locals say the NRA does not have enough employees while accusing it of neglecting the quake-stricken and thereby further compounding their pain.

The quake survivors are forced to bear with the scorching heat, gusts, hailstorms and rain due to lack of residence, said Bal Bahadur Thami, a local of Lapilang VDC – 6.

Thami added that he had heard of money being distributed to Lamidanda among other VDCs and accused the government of turning its back on his village. "The rainy season has started, when will I build my home? When I get up in the morning my bed is wet due to overnight rainfall," Thami said.

Subash Shiwakoti of Sunkhani VDC rued the tardy efforts of the government in providing reliefs to the quake victims at the locality, and complained that many local quake survivors are still living in makeshift tents or huts for want of permanent shelter.

Likewise, another local quake victim, Lal Bahadur Tamang, echoed the complaints made by Shiwakoti. He said that the children, post-natal women and elderly living in the tents are hit the most as the tents sheltering them cannot protect them properly from rain.

On the other hand, Local Development Officer, Bishnu Sharma, blamed internal disputes within the NRA for the delay in releasing relief amounts.

So far the district has received Rs 265 million meant for the quake victims, he said, adding that although he had heard that the NRA would release additional Rs 2 billion for the district's quake survivors, the amount was yet to be received.

According to a data with the DDC Information Section, of the total of 4,154 quake victims in the district, who have signed an agreement to receive the amount to be provided by the government as part of post-quake reconstruction programme, only 515 have received the first installment of Rs 50,000 so far. RSS