KOHALPUR, Dec 27: Even five months after hitting hard by the devastating floods in the Rapti River and Daduwa stream, the flood victims of Daduwa Rural Municipality are yet to be provided relief.
Floods which occurred on August 11 and 13 this year had inundated a large number of houses in ward no 1, 2, 3 and 5 of Daduwa Rural Municipality. But as many as 619 households of these villages are still awaiting relief. The flood victims of other villages in the district have already been provided with the relief.
Earlier, the government had distributed Rs. 2,100 along with food and clothes to each flood victim. But many were deprived of the relief amount as their names were not listed in the victims' list. The money handed to the Rural Municipality by the government in the name of the victims has not yet been distributed, informed flood victim Ram Kumar Sonkhar. As accused by the victims, the rural municipality office has not distributed the relief despite repeated requests. "Earlier, we could not distribute the relief as the locals staged protests saying their names have not been included in the list," said Narendra Chaudhary, Chairperson of Daduwa, adding, "We are yet to receive the relief amount as per the updated list of the victims."
According to the victims, the rural municipality office has offered relief to some whose houses and property were not affected by the floods while genuine victims have been neglected.
Meanwhile, the rural municipality and lawmakers of the province have drawn the attention of the District Administration Office regarding the delay in the distribution of the flood victim grant by submitting a memorandum. A team led by lawmaker of province 2(a) Bijay Kumar Yadav has taken efforts to inform Chief District Officer (CDO) of Banke, Ramesh Kumar KC regarding the delay in the relief distribution. As informed by lawmaker Yadav, efforts are underway to convince the CDO to distribute relief within the next three days.
Meanwhile, CDO KC informed that the DAO has not been provided with the relief amount as per the updated list of the flood victims. "We will provide the relief as soon as we get the relief in our hands," CDO KC informed.