The government is constructing 500 more houses for the impoverished and marginalised Chepang community in Makawanpur district in the current fiscal year. 

“The government has allocated the budget to build 500 additional houses for the marginalised Chepang community. The houses for poor and flood/landslide affected Chepang people will be constructed soon,” said lawmaker Mahalaxmi Dina Upadhyay who is also the district coordinator of the PHP. 

The meeting of the district coordination committee held on October 24 decided to prioritise the flood/landslide-hit Chepang people under the housing programme. The meeting also made a decision to shortlist the poor Chepang households to provide the service. 

Some houses of Chepang community were damaged due to floods and landslides in Manahari and Raksirang rural municipalities in this year’s monsoon season. The affected families are still languishing in poorly-built tarpaulin shelters.  

The Makawanpur chapter of Nepal Chepang Association has recommended the names of the people who need homes immediately. 

The government had set a budget of Rs 184,000 for each household in the previous PHP. 

Keeping in view of price hike in construction materials and wages of workers, the budget has been increased to Rs 457,000 per household in the current fiscal year.  

The PHP was introduced in the district in the fiscal year 2009/10. Each family would get a house with a kitchen, two rooms and a toilet under the programme. The beneficiary are also required to donate their labour worth at least 10 percent of the total cost of the house. 

There are around 20,000 Chepang people in Makawanpur. 

The government also had a plan of building homes for the underprivileged Bankariya people living in Manahari-4 in the district, but the programme could not be launched because the community lacked the land to build. The budget allocated for Bankariya housing froze for five years. 

The district coordination committee of the PHP has urged the government to provide two bighas of land for the construction of a Bankariya settlement.