Melamchi flood victims complain of not getting grant amount

5 Spt, Sindhupalchowk: The monsoon-induced disaster victims here have not yet received grant amount for the past three months.

There are complaints that the beneficiaries have not been able to get due amount for the construction of the house in the previous fiscal year.

Panchpokhari Thangpal rural municipality chair Tashi Lama said the construction of the houses has started, but the installment amount has not been paid as the grant amount has not been paid.

“Some people have rebuilt their houses on loan, and the beneficiaries hopeful to repay loan from the government grants have been facing problems due to non-release of the grant amount”, he said.

Due to delay in the construction of houses, the affected people are forced to live in risky places.

Rabi Raj Dhital, disaster focal person at the District Administration Office, said the Integrated Work Procedure is being prepared by amending the Work Procedure, 2077 BS, adding payment process has been delayed due to the reason.

He said National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has stopped the payment in the pretext of formulating a new integrated work procedure including the earthquake victims of western Nepal in its scope and providing the grant amount by constructing houses accordingly.

Dhital said that the problem will be resolved as soon as the procedure is finalized. As many as 1,893 families have been affected by monsoon-related disasters, according to the data of beneficiaries as per the reconstruction and rehabilitation procedure of private houses affected by monsoon-related disasters prepared by the NRA in 2077 BS.

However, there is no exact data of the people affected by the monsoon-related disasters before.

According to the procedure prepared in 2077 BS, provision has been made to provide grant amount of Rs 500,000 in mountainous districts, Rs 400,000 in hilly districts and Rs 300,000 in Tarai districts for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of houses affected by the disaster-related incidents that took place after May 2020.

Sindhupalchowk falls within the mountainous district. According to the working procedure, the federal government will bear 55 percent in the case of the municipality and 60 percent in the case of the rural municipality. Likewise, the province is obliged to bear 30 percent, rural municipality 10 percent and municipality 15 percent.

Melamchi Municipality Mayor Aitman Tamang said though the local governments had sent the details of the flood-affected people to the District Disaster Management Committee for necessary decisions, the grant amount had not been paid to the victims due to the procedure.

Hari Sharan Shrestha, a local of Melamchi-11, a flood victim, complained that even after three years of the house being washed away by the floods of 2021 and subsequent floods in Melamchi and Indrawati rivers, there has been a problem due to lack of funds for reconstruction.

“There was assurance of giving money on installment basis, but due to lack of regular payment, many victims who have constructed houses by taking loans are facing problems”, he said.

The flood had taken away the house of Asmita Danuwar, a local of Phatte of Melamchi municipality-11. Her family has been forced to live in tents.

Asmita complained that she has been compelled to pay the interest of the loan taken from microfinance when the installment did not come on time even though the process of construction of the house started.

The houses of the beneficiaries who have been established as per the procedure have not yet been fully reconstructed.