Dolakha, March 27
Secretaries of Village development committees in Dolakha have said they will not cooperate with the National Reconstruction Authority’s post-quake reconstruction projects.
The Dolakha chapter of a centre meant to safeguard VDC secreataries’ interests recently submitted a five-point memorandum comprising VDC secretaries’ demands to chief district officer Pushpa Raj Shahi, Hari Prasad Sharma of the authority, local development officer Bishnu Prasad Sharma.
In the memorandum, the VDC secretaries have said there should be a secretary for each VDC, allowance for VDC secretaries, security guarantee for the secretaries, aides recruited to assist the secretaries in reconstruction works and systematic transfer of VDC employees.
Prem Prakash Khatri, Bhirkot VDC secretary, said: We are humans, not machines. There’s a limit to what we can do. From providing quake relief to building temporary shelters for quake victims, we did everything. We cannot do it anymore.
The government has said it will make sure there’s no shortage of VDC secretaries in quake-affected districts. Despite this, 13 VDCs in Dolakha are without secretaries. Some days ago, 16 VDCs were without VDC secretaries, Dolakha district development committee said, adding that it has deputed three VDC secretaries.
Meanwhile, the authority has said it has already sent to each affected household Rs 50,000, the first installment of the two lakh rupees meant for each affected family, through banks.
Sharma of the authority said they have already reached an agreement with 519 households in Lamidanda and Laduk VDCs on the distribution of grant to them, as part of a reconstruction campaign.
With the VDC secretaries refusing to work, reconstruction authority’s work has come to a halt in the district.
