By Purna Prasad Mishra, Kathmandu, Sept 26: The Safe Citizens Shelter Programme initiated since the Fiscal Year 2018/19 is facing a shortage of budget for implementation.    

One hundred fifty-seven thousand houses were selected under this scheme for replacing their thatched roofs with that of corrugated zinc sheets. There is a provision of providing a grant of Rs 50 thousand per house for this purpose under this programme.    

Senior Divisional Engineer, Meera Gyawali, Chief of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, Housing Section, said the programme has been hamstrung due to the shortage of budget.    

This programme had been started by 222 local bodies in FY 2018/19. It was implemented at the same number of local bodies in FY 2019/20. However, it was announced that the grant amount would be provided to 157 thousand households from FY 2020/21.    

Gyawali said the programme is facing a budget shortage for providing the grant to the 157 thousand households.    

According to her, Rs 7.5 billion is required for the programme but a total of only Rs 5 billion has been released for the programme two times. Thus, they have not been able to provide the grant to all the selected households, the Department stated.    

Although the programme steering committee chaired by the Minister for Urban Development on March 23, 2021, decided to increase the grant amount to Rs 75 thousand citing that Rs 50 thousand was not adequate for replacing the thatched roof with the zinc sheet, the Department has not been able to provide even the previous grant amount to the selected households.    

However, the Department had demanded providing at least Rs 100 thousand for replacement of the thatched roof with zinc sheet roof.    

Similarly, it is said that the People's Housing Programme is run by the provincial government is also facing a shortage of budget. The Department has been carrying out monitoring of this programme as well. The local governments have been complaining as there is a budget crunch in both programmes.    

Meanwhile, there is also a programme for constructing shelters for the flood and landslide affected families of Bardia and Surkhet districts and Jure in Sindhupalchowk district,    

It is said the Ministry has completed the programme of constructing shelters worth Rs 730 million in FY 2018/19 itself with the aim of ensuring housing for the homeless.