The families of victims who lost their homes in the 2015 Babai flood have not yet received the full amount of house construction money promised by the government.
What you should know
The mud house of Rabina Pathan of Hariyali Toll Tepari, Gulariya Municipality-3, was completely damaged by the flood in the Babai River on July 12, 2018.
The then government had decided to give 350,000 rupees to flood victims to build houses. After giving the first installment of 110,000 rupees, she took a loan from the moneylender, pledging her farm as collateral, hoping that more money would come. When the budget did not come, she built a house with the borrowed money. The government promised to give and repay an additional 240,000 rupees, but the relief did not come. On the contrary, her worries increased when the moneylender pressured her to pay the loan or leave the house.
'The state has done injustice to us low-income citizens,' she said, 'The moneylender has pressured her to leave the house. The money my husband and son used to sell vegetables on bicycles in the name of income is enough to cover household expenses.'
Deuta Godiya, 75, of the same place, is in a similar situation. Her mud house was also completely damaged by the flood that occurred at that time. She made a shelter by wrapping it in jute sacks. When the amount received from the state was not completed, he took a loan. 'Even now, in old age, I have to break gravel and stones to pay off the loan,' he said.
About 90 percent of the houses in this village were submerged in the flood of 2071 BS. Due to debt and unemployment, 90 percent of the youth of this village have gone to India to work as laborers.' A relative of flood-affected Newal Godiya, Mima Khadka, said that two sons went to India to find employment to pay off the loan.
Social activist Rajkumar Barma complained that the relevant bodies could not release the budget due to the weakness of local people's representatives.
Ward No. 3 Chairman Sarbajit Yadav said that the victims were saddened when the amount given in installments for the flood victims did not arrive. The flood had claimed 32 lives in the district.
Raju Neupane, head of the Urban Development and Building Office, Nepalgunj, said that there is no budget to build houses for flood victims in Bardiya this year. He said that since he has just been transferred, he will demand a budget for the construction of houses for the flood victims who have been exempted in the coming fiscal year.
