KATHMANDU: ‘Janata Aawas’ Program aimed to manage shelters for the needy people is one of the popular programs of the government.
But the Dalit communities of the Madhesh have been complaining that the project could not be effective because construction of the houses were not completed even in four years after it was started.
Government had initiated the Janata Aawas--People’s Housing Program--in 2009 aiming to provide shelters to marginalized poor families.
Representatives of Dalit communities of Tarai-Madhesh who attended the virtual program organised by Jagaran Media Centre (JMC) pointed out several reasons behind the delay in construction of houses.
They claimed that political interference, influence of mediators, carelessness of the government officials and irregularities were the major reasons behind the delay in completion of the construction of houses.
The project was started from 2009 as per the Article 33 of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 that guarantees the establishment of the right to housing to all citizens. “It shall be the responsibility of the state to guarantee the provision of social and economic security including the land for those groups who are socially and economically backward,” the article stated. In order to fulfil this objective, the government of Nepal had implemented Janata Aawas Karyakram- from the year 2009 in three districts to provide housing by constructing low cost modern housing for marginalized poor families.The provision guaranteeing the housing of all the citizens was also incorporated in the Nepal’s Constitution 2015.
Four years ago the Province 2 government had prioritized four marginalized communities--Dom, Musahar, Mestar and Halkhor--to make the Janata Aawas Karyakram more effective in Tarai and Madhesh. But still the construction of the houses of most of the poor Dalit communities have not completed yet. Most of the Dalit communities of Tarai are landless, squatters and unmanaged residents and they are deprived of citizenship certificates as they don't have land. Landless people can not get most of the services, benefits and rights entitled to the citizens.
Those living in thatched houses had been very happy thinking they could have a strong home made up of bricks and roofs of corrugated sheets. But now they are saddened because they could not get their houses in low cost and on stipulated time.
Addressing the virtual discussion of JMC supported by UNDP, Minister for Physical Development and Infrastructure of Province 2 government Ram Saroj Yadav expressed commitment to coordinate with stakeholders, civil society and concerned organisations to ensure effective implementation of the project and complete it at the earliest. He also appealed the civil society and organisations to coordinate the government to correct its work procedures and facilitate its implementation.
Saying that the lack of human resources has affected in completing the project he said the government will be able to resolve the problems and challenges witnessed during the implementation of the project effectively.
"We are under pressure to release funds by the middlemen who were given the contract to construct the houses even without the completing construction," said Yadav admitting that there were problems and shortcoming as well. "We were handed over the project by central government. So we cannot change its procedures therefore we are following the same design and procedures."
The Physical Development Ministry of the Provincial government had continued with the project forming district level committees after it was handed over to the ministry. But its implementation was delayed due to various reasons including corruption and unnecessary interference of the middlemen.
Speaking at the program entitled ‘Janata Aawas Karyakram among Madheshi Dalit community of Province 2: Agenda and Effect’ Chairman of Disaster Management Committee of the Provincial Assembly and coordinator of Janata Aawas Karyakram Shiva Chandra Chaudhary stressed on the need to revise the work procedure prepared by the federal government since that was outdated. “The work procedure does not talk about the contribution of the Provincial government so the total investment will be Rs 333,000 only which is not sufficient. It was drafted a decade ago,” Chaudhary said. He said the concerned ministry should form a probe committee to study about the incomplete houses constructed earlier and complete them at the earliest.
“It’s the project of the central government but was handed over to the provincial government. But this year, the central government has not allocated a budget for it so the program was halted,” he said. Government has made a policy to provide housing to all the Nepalis within April 2024. But to achieve the goal there is a need to construct 2 million new houses. During the fiscal year 2017-18 only 17,039 houses were completed out of 55,923 which is only 30 percent. Similarly, in Province 2 only construction of as many as 14,823 houses have been in limbo since the last 11 years.
“The contractors have not constructed the roofs of many of the beneficiaries even after taking money from them. But during the fiscal year 2018-19 many houses were constructed in all eight districts of Province 2,” said Jaiyun Rayan, chairperson of the Women, Children and Social Justice Committee of the Provincial Assembly. She, however, said the people have been forced to live under open sky because the contractors failed to install their roofs.
But Ashok Kumar Yadav, Chairman of State Affairs Committee of the Provincial Assembly, said the intervention of the middlemen was the only reason behind the delay in the completion of the project on time. He said corruption, commission for the contractors, and individual interests were some of the reasons behind the very weak effect of the popular project. There must be proper monitoring and evaluation of the project because there are problems at most of the places, he said.
Government is still unaware how many houses were completed with the money the Urban Development Ministry of the Federal Government released to the provincial government to build 39,000 houses in the fiscal year 2019-20. There is no record of the provincial government presenting any of its reports to the federal government.
Presenting his paper at the virtual program, expert on the issue Bhola Paswan said the government has been managing the budget and spending it but the construction of many houses are remaining incomplete. He said though the project was handed over to the provincial government three years ago there is no improvement in its implementation.
“When it was with the federal government the cadres of the party leading the Urban Development Ministry extracted benefit from it and there is no improvement even after it was handed over to the provincial government,” Paswan said. “People are suffering a lot because they have dismantled whatever shelter they had and with incomplete houses they are now forced to live in tents facing cold waves and floods.”
He pointed out that problems in the policy, lack of time to select beneficiaries by the lawmakers, insufficient budget, politicisation in selecting the house, lack of information and excessive influence of middlemen were some of the reasons behind ineffectiveness of the project.
Senior journalist and political analyst Chandra Kishore Jha said it was good that the popular project was handed over to the provincial government and it was an opportunity for the provincial government to prove its worth.
Jha, however, said its implementation was not satisfactory and therefore this problem should be an issue of the whole provincial assembly. He further said the media has been monitoring all its activities and the local levels should also assess the effectiveness of the project focusing on its problems, obstruction and leakage of the budget.
During the function, right activists Dharmendra Paswan, Manojram, Balaram, Nathuram and Sunita Devi Mochi of the Janata Aawas project drew the attention of the concerned authorities claiming that the project could not become effective.
Member of the Constituent Assembly and Chairperson of the Jagaran Media Centre Kamal Bishworkarma had facilitated the virtual discussion.
