Local units across Banke have launched relief distribution drives targeting students, daily wage earners and the impoverished. But the drive has courted controversy as many beneficiaries have accused the local units of bias, while many say the relief material is not sufficient.

Nepalgunj Sub-metropolis on Sunday distributed relief materials that included five kg rice and one kg lentil to students staying in their rented rooms in the city.

But students say the relief material is not enough to survive. “The sub-metropolis has given us only rice and lentil, but how are we going to cook it without oil and salt?” Khum Bahadur Rawal, who is originally from Humla and is currently stuck in Nepalgunj due to the Covid-19 lockdown, told the Post.

As many as 70 students and daily wage-earning labourers have also expressed their dissatisfaction over the quantity of the material distributed.

Uma Thapa, deputy mayor of the sub-metropolis, said that the civic body initially didn’t plan to distribute relief material to students, but the plan was amended later after increasing calls for help by students. “Since we had to amend the plan midway, we didn’t have sufficient budget to increase the relief materials,” she said.

Meanwhile, in Kohalpur Municipality Ward No. 14, locals staged a protest accusing the people’s representatives of bias in distributing the relief material. Locals have said the material was distributed in secret to those that are close to the representatives. Ward chair Tekchan Harijan has denied the allegations. “The distribution process has been impartial and we are committed to providing sufficient material to the poor and needy,” he said.lsipur sub-metropolis has been more generous in relief distribution, providing 25kg rice, two kg lentil, one kg cooking oil, one pack salt and two pieces of soap to 49 needy families. The sub-metropolis has also distributed 2,500 masks.

Controversy in relief distribution has also been reported in other parts of the country. In Lamjung, local units haven’t followed the guidelines presented by the provincial government as a result, locals have reported discrepancies in the distribution.