A large number of people in Dhading have taken housing reconstruction aid by producing fake documents, according to the District Administration Office.

 Chief District Officer Bishwa Prakash Subedi said they have received a raft of complaints about people faking as quake victims for the aid. 

The volume of complaints suggests that there was serious flaw while collecting data of the quake victims, he added. 

As per the record available at the District Administration Office (DAO) and District Police, the 2015 April earthquake had destroyed only 32 homes at Nilkantha Municipality-3 that has 1,800 households. However, 1,200 households have received the first tranche of the reconstruction aid. 

Ram Hari Adhikari and his son Ganesh Adhikari have rented their five-storey house at Tatopani to Nilkantha Municipality for Rs 45,000 per month. But both father and son received the reconstruction aid (with their contract agreement no 30-42-2-0-1 and 2) stating that they live separately and their houses were destroyed by the earthquake. 

Similarly, three members of a household in Baireni-8 received the housing aid separately by producing fake household details. Sheshkanta Rimal, his son Krishna Prasad and grandson Resham Raj received the amount. 

According to the DAO, it has been investigating into 150 reported cases of fake earthquake victims. 

The DAO said 54 complaints were filed from Jibanpur while 48 and 40 complaints were reported from Baireni and Dhadingbesi respectively. 

After the instruction from the DAO, police had arrested 14 reportedly fake earthquake victims from Jibanpur two weeks ago. The DAO later released them on general date. “Investigation is underway about 40 people of Dhadingbesi,” said Superintendent of Police Sharad Kumar Khatri. 

“We were surprised how most of the households in Nilkantha-3 signed housing reconstruction aid agreement and received the first tranche,” said Devraj Chaulagain, the executive officer at the municipality.