he government has revised the guidelines to hand out grant assistance of Nrs 200000 each to around 500, 000 families whose houses were completely destroyed by the earthquake.The old provisions barred the quake affected families of urban and rural areas to obtain grant after obtaining concessional loans amounting to Nrs 2.5 million and 1.5 million respectively. The revised guidelines makes families eligibile to receive both grant amount and concessional loans for reconstruction. Affected families can now obtain the grant amount with an additional loan of Nrs 300,000 at 2% interest rate. However, concessional loans will only be provided after fulfilling bank’s collateral requirements.

The grant amount will be distributed by Federal Affairs and Local Development Ministry whereas technical aspects like house-map and design will be monitored by Ministry of Urban Development. The quake affected will be asked to choose an earthquake resistant house design from options provided by Building Construction Department. The families can alter the number of rooms as per necessity.The revised guidelines facilitate the distribution of grant amount of Nrs 50000, Nrs 100000 and Nrs 50000 in three instalments and previously distributed grant of Rs 15000 will not be deducted from the total amount.The document bars families from using the grant amount for other purposes.