National
Earthquake victims return housing grant
Mingmar Lama, an earthquake victim of Helambu in Sindhupalchok district, has returned the relief amount provided by the government for the reconstruction of his quake-damaged house.Anish Tiwari
Mingmar Lama, an earthquake victim of Helambu in Sindhupalchok district, has returned the relief amount provided by the government for the reconstruction of his quake-damaged house.
Mingmar, who is also ward chairman of Helambu, returned the amount to the District Project Implementation Unit of the National Reconstruction Authority saying that he has another house to live in. “During a housing aid orientation programme, I came to know that people who owned houses cannot take reconstruction aid,” said Mingmar. Hyalmo Sanskriti Village had launched a campaign requesting people to return relief amount if they have suitable homes to live in. “People, who have their houses in the Capital, are also planning to return the aid,” said Mingmar, adding that their campaign has become effective.
Not only Mingmar, seven others have also returned the relief amount in the district until now. Jhanka Prasad Dangal of Melamchi Municipality-13 said that he returned the relief amount on June, 2018. “It’s a crime to take housing aid if people have a good house to live in,” he said, adding that he felt happy after returning the aid amount.
Krishna Hari Khanal of Melamchi Municipality-4 also returned the relief amount to the government. “I received housing construction aid despite having a suitable house to live in,” said Khanal, informing that he felt bad after receiving the aid and returned the amount.
After the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, the government had decided to provide Rs200,000 in rebuilding aid for each household. It was later increased to Rs300,000. The amount was to be distributed in three instalments—Rs50,000, Rs150,000 and Rs100,000—to ensure that the quake survivors rebuild quake-resilient homes in line with government specified standards and designs.
Mayor of Melamchi Municipality Dambar Aryal said people who have good houses to live-in have started to return housing reconstruction aid inside Melamchi Municipality. “We are raising awareness these days. People have started to know about the importance of housing reconstruction aid,” said Aryal.
Jaya Prakash Gupta, chief of the Project Implementation Unit, said reconstruction works have gathered momentum from eastern part of Tatopani to the western part of Helambu, Panchpokhari and other areas of the district. Of 87,001 quake victims, who were included in the housing reconstruction aid list, 56, 679 quake victims already constructed safer homes.