National
Rebuilding in Makwanpur unlikely to be completed even in next 5 yrs
Only nine percent of the families affected by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Makwanpur district has received the third batch of the housing reconstruction aid so far.Pratap Bista
Only nine percent of the families affected by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Makwanpur district has received the third batch of the housing reconstruction aid so far.
According to the official data, 31,817 families in the district have been listed on the housing reconstruction aid list. Of the total quake-affected families, 6,930 have not signed the housing reconstruction aid agreement with the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA).
Pushparaj Adhikari, the chief of the NRA District Level Project Implementation Unit, said only 9,703 quake-affected families in Makwanpur have received second tranche of the housing aid.
Going by the data on the number of families who have received the housing reconstruction aid so far, Adhikari said the earthquake-ravaged homes in the district are not going to be built even in the next five years.
Somnath Timilsina, chief engineer at the District Technical Office, said many families have not even constructed the foundations for their new homes to become eligible for the second tranche of the housing aid.
The government should find a way to accommodate such families in the reconstruction programme, said Raghunath Khulal, chairman of the District Coordination Committee.
20,000 quake-affected families yet to start reconstruction
DHADING: Around 20,000 earthquake-affected households in Dhading district are yet to start the construction of new homes after receiving the first instalment of the housing aid from the NRA. Altogether 64,000 families in the district have received the first instalment of the aid. An official at the NRA said they cannot issue the second batch of the aid unless the concerned families have built the foundation of their new homes. Nearly three years since the destructive earthquake, only 40,000 affected families in Dhading have applied for the second instalment of housing aid. Around 12,000 families have contacted the NRA district office for the third and final instalment of the aid.