Madhes province govt waiting for clear guideline for relief distribution

Janakpurdham, Oct 2: Minister for Home, Communications and Law of the Madhes Province, Raj Kumar Lekhi has said that due to the lack of laws and regulations related to disaster management, they were facing hardship to provide relief materials to the flood victims.

In an interaction on safety and disaster organized by the Ministry here today, the Minster said although there was loss of lives and property in eight districts of Madhes province, the details of the damage were yet to be collected due to the absence of a clear mechanism of the provincial government. According to him, provincial government is in trouble because relief materials could only be distributed through the district administration office.

He further complains that there is a wide delay in the distribution of relief materials from the DAO and there is a problem with the process as well. Minister Lekhi complained that Madhes province has 120 million rupees in its disaster management fund but no proper guidelines and laws to distribute it. Similarly, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism of the Province Sakil Minya Ansari stressed on immediately providing relief to the victims.

In the interaction, MPs Ram Saroj Yadav, Sanjay Yadav, Manoj Kumar Singh, Sarada Pahadi, Ram Ashish Yadav, Rajendra Yadav, Jibachhi Yadav and Upendra Mahato and former minister Sharada Thapa demanded that the Police Act be brought quickly and relief materials should be provided to the flood victims as soon as possible.—RSS