Forty-seven percent of the population in Achham district are living below the poverty line, according to a recent survey.

The survey was conducted by Poor Household Identification and Identity Card Management and Distribution Coordination Board in all 10 local units of the district, and it found out that 10,071 families lived in extreme poverty.

Dhakari Rural Municipa-lity had the highest poverty rate with 69 percent of its population (2,257 families) living in a state of penury followed by Panchadeval Binayak Municipality, where 66.7 percent of its population were poor. Board officer Bhim Bahadur Chalaune said the poor famlies were categorised under three groups based on their financial standings.

He added the famlies in each group will get distinct ID cards separated by colours, red for the extremely poor, yellow for the mid-level poor, and blue for the generally poor. Each card will give its owner access to state benefits and subsidies, as stipulated by the local government.  

Chaluane said the poor families can get the ID cards from their respepctive local units.

ID distribution row A group of people vandalised the ward office of Panchadevi Binayak Municipality-6 on Tuesday, claiming that the municipal staff were distributing poverty ID cards to the non-poor people in the village. Police later arrested six people in connection to the incident. Astaraj Gautham, officiating administrative officer of the municipal office, said the ID card distribution process was halted until further notice in the wake of incident.