Rs. 4.72 billion compensation distributed to Budhigandaki affected

By Narendra Dhakal Gorkha, June 14: About 3,400 affected people in the flooded area of Budhigandaki Hydropower Project have received compensation for their houses, plants and fruits.

According to the Environment, Compensation Distribution, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Unit of the Project, a total of Rs. 4.72 billion has been distributed so far. For the second time, around Rs. 3.2 billion was sent to the accounts of 2,600 affected households, said Dr. Jagat Kumar Shrestha, coordinator of the Project. "We have already paid compensation in two lots based on the applications of the affected people in both Gorkha and Dhading districts. Now there are about 1,000 applications left. The money goes to their accounts in a week and a half,” he said.  Earlier, in the first phase, Rs. 1.70 billion was sent to the accounts of 800 people, he said.

Many other affected people have yet to apply for the compensation, said the Project. There is a problem in compensating some of the applicants, he said.

He said that there was a problem as the details of some affected people's houses, fruits and plants were registered in the name of other people.

"We have to send money to the person in whose name the land is registered,” he said, “but we have not been able to send compensation if the names mismatch. Such cases are yet to be settled.”

There is a problem in compensating the people who have built houses by renting other people's land. He said that a situation has been created where the house owner does not get the house whereas the landlord gets the money. "Why collecting the data, the landlord is registered, not the house owner," said Dr Shrestha.

The government had allocated Rs. 6.80 billion to the Budhigandaki Hydropower Project in the current fiscal year 2021/22. The amount has been spent on distribution of compensation. "In this fiscal year, almost everyone will get compensation for houses, trees and fruits,” he said.

The data collected by the project office said that compensation should be distributed for 24,555 houses, including other physical infrastructure in Gorkha and Dhading. The project has estimated that it will cost around Rs. 10 billion to distribute compensation for houses and plants.

There is also a problem in the distribution of compensation for public land, Guthi land, schools, monasteries and temples. The government has allocated Rs. 8 billion budget for the project in the upcoming fiscal year 2022/23.

So far, Rs. 34.06 billion has been distributed as compensation for 48,949 ropanies of land. Although the work of distributing compensation has reached its final stage, affected people are still in a dilemma due to hitches in resettlement and rehabilitation of villagers.