Flood victims say govt relief too little‚ too late

NARENDRA BHATTA

BAITADI: Accusing the local administration of failing to ascertain the details of the damage caused by the recent floods and not being able to provide relief materials on time, flood victims today refused to accept the relief package sent by the state.

More than 2,500 residents of the district headquarters Khalanga and surrounding areas have been displaced by the floods in the Mahakali River since Sunday.

The arrival of a few officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs via a chopper today, three days after the incident, has stoked the anger of flood victims here, prompting them to gather at the district headquarters and submit a five-point memorandum to the government team led by MoHA Under-Secretary Pradip Koirala.

The flood victims have demanded that the government take immediate initiatives to guarantee food, shelter, clothes and compensation to the flood victims, introduce a rehabilitation package for them and construct embankments to save the remaining human settlements from being washed away by the floods.

Primary data shows that the floods in the Mahakali River have swept away 105 concrete houses, 17 squatters’ shanties, four temples, 13 government office buildings and have displaced more than 2,500 people. By today, 200 tents, 400 blankets, eight cartons of drugs, 22 quintals of rice, seven quintals of pulse and six quintals of sugar have reached Darchula but they are yet to be distributed after victims’ refusal to accept the relief package. “This is too little, too late. We have refused to receive the relief materials in protest of the nonchalance of the government,” said Ramesh Dhami, a displaced local.

Rs 40,000 each to family of deceased

KATHMANDU: The government on Wednesday decided to provide Rs 40,000 each to family of those who lost their lives in the floods and landslides. A meeting of the Central Disaster Management Committee held in the presence of Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi also decided to increase the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund to Rs 400 million from earlier Rs 190 million. Similarly, the Disaster and Rescue Fund has been increased to Rs 100 million, said Home Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire. The government on Tuesday had decided to allocate Rs five million to flood-hit Darchula and Kanchanpur districts.

1,500 rescued

TIKAPUR: Around 1,500 people who were stranded at different places in Kailali due to floods in the Karnali River since Tuesday afternoon were rescued on Wednesday by locals and police and army personnel. An army chopper rescued 105 persons from Tikapur, Shahipur, while police rescued 96 persons from Shahipur itself by a rubber boat. Likewise, 250, 80 and 75 families have been rescued from Narayanpur, Baliya and Dhanawaphanta, respectively. Nepal Red Cross Society said the flood victims have been provided with food.

Five dead in Palpa, Taulihawa

PALPA/TAULIHAWA: Three persons of a single family died after a landslide buried their house in Birkot, Pokharichhap, in Palpa on Wednesday afternoon. The deceased are Manisara Baraghare, 46, her daughters Nirmaya, 13, and Manisha, 10. Two persons were killed in Taulihawa. A rain-swollen local Mainarikhola swept away one and another drowned in a pond.

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