Victims' non-acceptance of relief package worries govt

KATHMANDU, March 14: The government has initiated a study in three districts to find out why some 4,000 families, whose kin were killed during the Maoist insurgency, have not turned up for relief packages offered by the government.



An official at the Relief and Rehabilitation Division (RRD) under the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) told Republica that an RRD team is conducting a study in Kaski, Makwanpur and Chitwan to find out why families of the victims didn´t turn up to accept the relief package announced by the government. Manang and Mustang were the only districts with no human casualties during the conflict. [break]



“We have been studying why such a huge number of the conflict-hit families did not turn up to claim the relief package,” said Arjun Kumar Sharma, under secretary at RRD. He said the ministry had issued circulars to the district administration offices apart from informing the victims through television channels, newspapers and community radio about the package.



According to Suresh Neupane, a section officer at RRD, as many as 3,864 families of the 17,883 persons killed during the conflict have not come to claim the relief package so far.



Sharma stated the reports of the ongoing study would be submitted by April second week. “The study has also been conducted to convince the World Bank to continue its assistance,” added Sharma.



The government has been providing Rs 100,000 each to the families of people killed during the conflict since 2008, while each affected family is entitled to an additional Rs 200,000 from the present fiscal year as “special relief”.



Wives (excluding wives of security personnel who get pension from the state) of persons killed and disappeared receive an additional Rs 25,000 from the government



MoPR had been planning to provide relief to the families of 1,000 peoples by the end of the current fiscal year. However, the families of only 110 people have received the relief package in the first 8 months of the current fiscal year.



Over the last eight months, RRD has released Rs 1.79 billion to be distributed to the families of those killed, Rs 199.8 million for families of the disappeared and Rs 124.5 million for the wives of the disappeared.



RRD has sought an additional Rs 550 million from the finance ministry for “special relief”. According to officials at RRD, however, the finance ministry has not responded to RRD demand as of yet.



“On the one hand, we are looking for those who did not come to claim the regular relief package, while on the other the government has not provided additional money for “special relief”,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

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