Kathmandu, January 17
The government says the quake survivors who received the first tranche of reconstruction grant have to return the money if they have not begun the reconstruction of their houses yet.
The National Reconstruction Authority says people who received Rs 50,000 in the first instalment have to return the money if they did not begin constructing the house by mid-January.
Earlier, the Authority had issued a notice urging them to begin the construction by mid-January and apply for the second tranche.
Whereas around 688,000 quake survivors have received the first trance, only around 450,000 people have reconstructed or are reconstructing the houses, according to the Authority. Rest of around 200,000 are incommunicado.
The Authority’s Information Officer Manohar Ghimire says the Authority is launching an investigation to find out how many of grant recipients are misusing the grant without building the houses.
“If they verify from their local government that they have delayed the construction owing to some serious problems, we may give them some extra time,” he says, “Otherwise, we will begin the process to return the grant.”
It has been learned that many of ‘fake’ quake survivors reside in Kathmandu temporarily.
