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The people’s newsroom

WorldNepal

Nearly 3.5 lakh leave Kathmandu for Dashain as Nepal offers rent help to flood victims

Daily departures from the valley have passed 85,000. The cabinet has approved six months of housing aid for families in Gorkha, Dhading and Baglung, and fuel prices are being held despite Indian Oil's revisions.

From the editorial desk · KathmanduPublished
Buses at Gongabu bus park in Kathmandu (file photo)
Buses at Gongabu bus park in Kathmandu (file photo)Photo: Sergey Ashmarin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Key points

  1. More than 3,48,000 people left the Kathmandu Valley between 11 and 16 October.
  2. Flood-hit families will get NRs 15,000 a month for temporary housing for up to six months.
  3. Nepal Oil Corporation kept petrol and diesel at NRs 197.50 a litre despite Indian Oil's cost changes.

More than 3,48,000 people have poured out of the Kathmandu Valley for the Bada Dashain festival, even as the government scrambles to help thousands of families whose homes were wrecked by this year’s floods.

Deputy Superintendent Rabindra Khanal of the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police said that many passengers left the valley between 11 and 16 October. Daily departures climbed from 52,827 to 85,561 on 15 October, and advance bookings had reached 1,53,732. Rajendra Acharya of the Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs said a highway cave-in at Galaudi in Dhading on 9 October had caused delays.

The cabinet has approved temporary housing aid for flood and landslide victims in Gorkha, Dhading and Baglung: NRs 15,000 a month for a family of up to four, plus NRs 2,000 for each additional member, for up to six months. Prime Minister Balendra Shah said floods on 26 August and 11 October had damaged 7,570 private homes in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha and Chitwan, causing losses of about NRs 6,388 crore. A Building (Second Amendment) Bill registered on 2 October proposes model designs, safety checks on buildings at 50 and 65 years, and grants for poor families.

Nepal Oil Corporation kept retail fuel prices unchanged despite cost adjustments by Indian Oil Corporation on 15 October. Petrol and diesel stay at NRs 197.50 a litre and cooking gas at NRs 2,060 a cylinder, leaving the corporation with an estimated loss of NRs 345.8 crore a fortnight.

For the festival season, Nepal Rastra Bank has raised the daily limit on deposit transactions for digital wallets such as eSewa and Khalti from 10 to 50, from 17 to 25 October and again from 7 to 15 November for Tihar and Chhath.