National
Officials struggle to identify fake earthquake victims
The government authorities in Dhading district are having a difficult time to identify the fake earthquake victims.Harihar Singh Rathour
The government authorities in Dhading district are having a difficult time to identify the fake earthquake victims.
As per the record available at district project implementation unit of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), around 15,000 families that had received the first tranche of Rs 50,000 have not started their reconstruction yet. The authorities concerned are having a tough time to identify the fake victims out of the 15,000 households and identify the real victims who have been unable to initiate the reconstruction for various reasons.
The officials suspect that the majority of the 15,000 families might be fake earthquake victims who received the first tranche by producing fake documents. However, there are many families that could not reconstruct their quake-ravaged houses even after receiving the first tranche.
“We will take initiatives to identify the fake victims and the real victims who could not reconstruct their houses for various reasons. We will categorise them into helpless, elderly, physically challenged, people with no family members and people under absolute poverty,” said Rajendra KC, chief of NRA’s district project implementation unit. He also said that strong action will be taken against the fake quake victims.
The NRA had issued a public notice asking the fake quake victims to return the first tranche money that they had received by December 30. However, only three people have returned the amount so far. The reconstruction body has warned the fake victims that it would recover the amount at any cost.
However, some earthquake victims claimed that they could not start with the reconstruction of their homes due to a lack of labourers and the need of an additional amount to rebuild.
Krishna Bahadur Gurung of Katunje received the first tranche and went to a Gulf country for employment. He has plans to earn more and build a suitable house for his family.
“The first tranche is not enough to even build a foundation of the house. How can we construct a suitable house with the amount provided by the government?” said Gurung’s wife Sushila. She said they would build their house after her husband comes back.
Numerous quake victims have complained that they could not construct a house suitable for their family with the government provided aid of Rs 300,000.
Out of 81,829 families identified as quake victims, around 70,985 households have
signed the housing reconstruction agreement so far. Of them, 70,713 families have received the first tranche but only around 58,000 families have received the second tranche.