OKHALDHUNGA, Oct 27: Lamenting that they have been deprived of government-provided grants, 650 earthquake victims in Okhaldhunga have filed complaint against the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA).
According to the victims, their names have not been listed as service seekers despite the fact that most of them suffered complete destruction of their houses by earthquake.
Surprisingly, most of those complaining have received the first tranche of their grants and they have also been provided identity cards. However, their names are not in the list of service seekers. That is why they have filed their complaints at an appellate committee.
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NRA itself had formed the appellate committee so that victims can complain against the authority if they are not happy with any of its decisions. Sunita Adhikari, information officer at the District Project Implementation Unit, informed that the complainants are piling up.
"We have been forwarding the complaints files to the central authority so that no one is deprived of the grants," Adhikari said. Those with red identity cards (whose houses were completely damaged) can file complaints at the committee if their names have not been listed for the grants.
A total of 15,000 people have filled the grievance forms so far, among which 1,600 can complain against the NRA. As of now, 600 cases have been registered with the central authority. Another 50 cases are yet to be forwarded from the district level. The appellate committee will make a ruling in a given case once the case is registered with the central authority.
The appellate committee has announced October 28 as the date for hearings for three of the cases. Manohar Ghimire, information officer at NRA, informed that the issuing of the ruling would be no different than at a court of law. The committee will reach its conclusion after going through all the evidence.
Many of those filing the complaints are still unaware about the process for addressing their cases. Some of them said the reconstruction authority is only wasting their time.
