Until now, the affected families had to visit the District Administration Office in the district headquarters with necessary documents verified by the local government to get the amount. The committee provides Rs 10,000 as a relief for victims of natural disasters like flood, landslide, lightning and fire.

“Most beneficiaries of the relief have to spend a lot of money and time on travelling to the district headquarters. So we decided to distribute the relief from the local body itself,” said Chief District Officer Narayan Prasad Bhatta, who is also the chief of the District Natural Disaster Management Committee. According to him, the local units will send the necessary documents to the District Administration Office and the latter will issue the relief amount through the local bodies. The decision will be implemented with immediate effect, he added.

A disaster management committee has been formed in each local unit. As per Sunday’s decision, the District Natural Disaster Management Committee, after verifying the documents, will deposit the relief amount in the bank account of the local unit’s disaster management committee.

The meeting on Sunday was attended by the chief and deputy chief of the District Coordination Committee, chief and deputy chief of all local units, and administrative officers and chiefs of other government offices.

“Affected families from remote villages will benefit from the decision,” said Tanka Bahadur Moktan, chairman of Kailash Rural Municipality.

The District Natural Disaster Management Committee in Makwanpur provided Rs 120,000 to fire victims and Rs 420,000 to flood-affected people in the current fiscal year. Similarly, the committee distributed Rs 100,000 each to the families of 10 people who died in floods, landslides and lightning strike.