Miscellaneous
Parties seek cash for volunteers
Several political parties in Morang have started seeking donations from the local business community for mobilising their cadres as volunteers in areas across the country.Lilaballav Ghimire
Industry leaders complain that they are unable to help as they have suffered great losses due to the jolts and they have already donated cash and goods for the quake victims institutionally as well as individually.
“We have reached the affected areas in Sindhupalchok, Gorkha and Kavre districts and distributed relief materials. We also provided cash to the PM Disaster Relief Fund,” said Rajendra Raut, senior vice-chairman of the Morang Trade Association. He added that trade and industries were greatly affected after the tremors.
The Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the UCPN (Maoist) have started sending their cadres from various Tarai districts to the quake-hit areas. The parties have decided to mobilise their members for building temporary shelters and to carry out reconstruction in the worst-hit districts. They have said they need funds for transportation and food for the deployed volunteers.
Entrepreneurs said they are facing problems in manufacturing and taking goods to the market. “We ask the parties to manage it themselves in this adverse situation,” said Raut.
The political parties, however, said they would manage on their own the amount required for volunteer mobilisation. “We are collecting money from party members,” said Maoist leader Tanka Giri. The Maoist party plans to send 135 volunteers from Morang. The Nepali Congress and the UML said they would send 70 and 50 members, respectively, to the affected areas.