Many families in Kathmandu whose homes were either destroyed or severely damaged in the 2015 earthquakes are yet to receive the second and third tranche of the government rebuilding aid.

According to the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), of the 47,665 families eligible for the rebuilding aid in Kathmandu district, only 18,529 families have received the second instalment of the aid so far, and even fewer 15,500 families have received the third instalment.

The NRA data shows that 42,039 families have received the first instalment of the aid.

The government has pledged to provide Rs 300,000 each as a rebuilding aid in three instalments of Rs 50,000, Rs 150,000 and Rs 100,000, respectively.

The beneficiary family should build the foundation of a new home and secure clearance from the NRA engineers to become eligible for the second tranche of the rebuilding aid,

“Many families have not received the second and third tranche of the housing grant because they are yet to complete the foundation of their new homes, complying with the safety standards set by the government,” said NRA Deputy Spokesperson Manohar Ghimire. “Many families have not even started the construction after receiving the first tranche of the aid, which they say is not enough. Some earthquake survivors have been living in their old homes after minor repair and restoration.”

According to Hari Sharma, chief district engineer of Kathmandu, the government has been extending deadline for beneficiaries to collect the second and third tranche of the rebuilding aid.

“We extended the deadline till mid-November through the meeting that took place on June 14, as more than half of the aid beneficiaries who received the first tranche are yet to apply for the second and third tranche,” said Sharma.

The NRA and other stakeholders have been organising meetings from time to time to update the progress on the reconstruction work. The last meeting was held on October 31 last year, where engineers from all wards of Kathmandu Metropolitan City had gathered to discuss the major problems and progress in rebuilding aid distribution.

“The meeting concluded that most of the families who had not received the second and third instalment of the aid had either yet to start the construction of new homes or had not followed the building safety standards set by the government while constructing new homes,” said Sharma.

The number of earthquake-affected families who have not applied for the second and third tranche of the rebuilding aid is also high in Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts.