Safe community homes built by the Nepal Army to shelter quake-displaced families have been captured by two local schools in north Dhading, one of the districts hit hardest by the devastating earthquake in April 2015.

The NA constructed five buildings ferrying construction materials on helicopters in five VDCs in the northern part of the district. Having completed the construction works in June 2016, the NA had handed over the buildings to the local administration a month later.

Currently, Chyandra Secondary School in Sertung-6 and Dongden Secondary School in Tipling are running their classes at the community homes. Each of the community homes can accommodate up to 30 families.

Dilip Bhandari, chief of the Urban Development and Building Construction Division Office, said that the community homes have been misused as they were built without proper planning. “The community homes were constructed on the schools’ land due to lack of public land,” said Bhandari, adding that the concerned authorities had discussed with VDC representatives before beginning construction works.

After the devastating quakes of 2015, most of the schools in the northern belt of the district had been either operated under the open sky or temporary huts. In Jharlang, one of the community homes has been occupied by the VDC office as it was built on the VDC land. 

As the buildings were constructed by the government, their ownership has been provided to local bodies, Chief District Officer Umesh Kumar Dhakal said. “They were constructed for the quake victims, but are not used properly.” The NA had built community homes in six other places in the district, including Dhadingbesi, Salyantar, Katunje, Baireni and Benighat.