Of the total 544,255 quake victims signing the grant agreement, as many as 476,813 had received the first tranche of Rs 50,000 a few months ago and many of them have started reconstruction of their damaged houses and have also filed applications for the second tranche.
KATHMANDU, Jan 18: The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has decided to start distributing the second tranche of the housing grant to the earthquake victims in the 14 most-affected earthquake hit districts from Wednesday. They will get Rs 150,000 as the second tranche.
Deputy Spokesperson of the NRA, Bhishma Kumar Bhusal, said that the NRA has directed the Central Level Project Implementation Unit under the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development to begin the distribution of the second tranche to the eligible victims from Makawanpur and Sindhuli districts from Wednesday in the first phase.
“As many 200 earthquake victims in Makawanpur and 73 victims in Sindhuli districts who had received the first installment of Rs 50,000 have been verified as eligible for receiving the second tranche. So, we have directed the unit to distribute the second tranche to them from Wednesday,” Bhusal said.
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He said the unit will begin distribution of the second tranche to the earthquake victims in other 12 districts gradually. The NRA records show that as many as 20,879 new houses are currently being reconstructed in the earthquake-hit districts.
“We have already written to the Ministry of Finance to release additional Rs 28 billion for distributing the second tranche. Similarly, the local authorities in the 12 districts have also started verifying the eligible victims for the second tranche. So the eligible victims in those districts will also get Rs 150,000 soon,” he added.
Of the total 544,255 quake victims signing the grant agreement, as many as 476,813 had received the first tranche of Rs 50,000 a few months ago and many of them have started reconstruction of their damaged houses and have also filed applications for the second tranche.
But due to the delay on the part of the government in amending the grant distribution directives in line with the prime minister's decision to increase the housing grant from Rs 200,000 to Rs 300,000, many earthquake victims had not received the second tranche though they had already completed the construction of the foundation of their damaged houses from the money they had received as the first tranche.
But in the last week of December, the government endorsed the amended grant distribution directives, paving the way for the distribution of the second tranche.
“So, we have decided to begin the second tranche distribution. With this, the NRA has also geared up its effort to manage construction workers in the quake-hit districts for smooth reconstruction,” Bhusal added.
