The government has expressed serious concerns over the growing complaints regarding fake households receiving the housing aid and the misuse of  funds in earthquake-affected districts.

On Tuesday, the sub-regional office of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) in Gorkha received around 300 complaints about individuals who applied and received the first instalment of housing aid by submitting fake documents or by deceiving or any other reasons, said Ram Prasad Thapaliya, the NRA spokesperson.

“We are yet to collect complaints from all the districts, but we have been informed that there are increasing cases of wrongdoings by some individual households who are not listed in the list for receiving the aid,” Thapaliya said. “There are also complaints from locals regarding the misuse of the rebuilding aid for purposes other than constructing homes.”

The cases of fake households and misuse of rebuilding funds are not limited to one district, but are being reported from all the 11-districts where the NRA has started distributing the first tranche of  the housing aid.

The NRA sub regional offices have found cases like households signing the housing aid agreements from more than one district and submitting fake details knowing

that they could face action if found guilty.

“Those found guilty of receiving aid by submitting fake details or deceiving

the authorities are liable to face legal action,” the NRA said in a statement on Wednesday.

The NRA has also warned that the people who are found spending the first instalment of the housing aid for the purpose other than rebuilding homes will not be get the second instalment of the aid .

The central-level monitoring committee of the NRA on Tuesday decided to expedite the process of signing the housing aid agreements and the distribution of aid.

Of the total 450,032 households that have signed the agreements so far, 380,520 households have received the first instalment of the aid as of Tuesday.

An estimated 800,000 households in 14 districts were affected by the April 2015 earthquake.