While people affected by the April 25 earthquake endure biting cold in their fragile tents, there are no signs of winter relief package reaching them anytime soon.

The government last Saturday said it had instructed local authorities to complete distribution of winter relief package of Rs10,000 “within 10 days at any cost”, but chief district officers (CDOs) of quake-affected districts have said there are multiple reasons for not being able to do so. As a result, quake survivors are facing a hard time with the shaky structures they are living in hardly offering any protection against cold.

Some of the CDOs said it was due to delay on the part of the Ministry of Home Affairs in releasing fund. 

In some cases, according to CDOs, “politics has taken a toll” on quake victims, as the issue of who should get quake victim IDs has been hugely politicised. Local politicians are said to have been mounting pressure on local authorities to issue quake victim IDs to those whom locals recommend and identify as victims.

“We have requested the ministry, twice, demanding early release of the fund, but in vain,” said Gorkha CDO Uddhav Timalsina. 

Gorkha District Administration Office, which has already distributed Rs 400 million to quake victims as winter relief, is in need of more fund as there many quake survivors have not received the package yet. “We need additional Rs 300 million,” he said. 

In Rasuwa, political parties have put pressure on government teams, which are deployed to distribute relief, to issue quake victim IDs to additional households in Dhaibang and Gatlang. 

“Local political parties 

did not let our teams 

distribute relief, saying more households should be included in the victims’ list,” said Rasuwa CDO Shiva Ram Gelal. “The teams now have returned to the district 

headquarters.” 

Over 200 households have applied at VDC offices, demanding that they be included in the victims’ list and provided with Rs 15,000 that the government had earlier distributed to the victims immediately after the earthquake.

Dolakha CDO Devendra Lamichhane said winter relief package distribution was affected after the government delayed in releasing additional fund. “Around 

Rs 650 million which was released earlier has already been distributed. We need additional Rs 200 million,” said Lamichhane. 

Home Ministry Joint-Secretary Rameshwor Dangal, who also heads the disaster management department, said the increasing number of quake victims has complicated relief distribution. The number of quake-affected households, which was estimated to be around 600,000 while distributing immediate cash relief, has now crossed the 700,000 mark. 

In some places, officials said, there have been cases 

of former joint families 

registering their names as separate households, making it difficult for the government teams to distribute relief in a proper way. 

After discrepancies surfaced, the government has asked the Central Bureau of Statistics to conduct fresh 

census in quake-hit districts to figure out the exact number of people who were affected by the tremor.