The government allocated 50 million rupees for the victims of the flooding that devastated Jadaha Rural Municipality of Morang district a year ago. But local officials handed it to people at their will, our investigation has revealed.

-Kamal Rimal : Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal

Scores of families were affected in August 2017 when floods hit Jadaha Rural Municipality of Morang district.  The government announced that it will hand out 25,000 rupees to each family affected by the flood. But the local representatives included themselves and their relatives in the list of beneficiaries. As a result, genuine flood victims were deprived of the government relief while local representatives, their family members and relatives benefited from it.

According to the list, around 1,984 people had been affected by the flood in the village. Based on the figure, the government released a 49.6 million rupee relief fund for the victims. But our investigation has revealed that local representatives misused the funds.

Umesh Kumar Sah, the Ward-1 member, was not displaced in the flood. His house was not damaged in the disaster. But he received the relief funds meant for the victims. Sah wasn’t the only one from his family who swindled the funds. His father Tara Nanda and elder brother Ramesh each received 25,000 rupees. They were not among the victims. Their houses didn’t suffer any damage during the flood.  “They are not victims of flood. Umesh Kumar Sah, the ward member, presented them as victims despite all proof against it,” said Shiveshwar Rajbanshi, a local.

The house of Bindeshwar Sarbariya, another ward member, wasn’t damaged in the flood. But he received the relief fund. According to the list of victims prepared by the Rural Municipality, his wife Kapleshwari Devi also received the relief fund.

The local representatives have not only enlisted themselves as flood victims, but they have also included their relatives and family members in the list. Lila Devi Sarbariya, ward -1 member of Jadaha, provided her daughter, Sumati Kumari, who lives in the Indian district of Forbesganj in Bihar across the border, with the relief fund. Sumati Kumari had clearly taken advantage of the fact that her mother was a ward member, but she said the woman was not her daughter. But Sumati is the youngest among her four daughters.

Khursid, son of Roshan Khatun, another ward member, also received the relief fund. This became possible after the ward member included her son’s name in the list of flood victims. The family of Pradip Chandra Yadav, ward-1 chairman, wasn’t affected by the flood. But he included his father Moti Lal, elder brother Bidur and uncle Sadananda in the list of people whose houses suffered ‘complete damage’. “The floodwaters didn’t damage the house because it was cement and concrete building, but it destroyed our grains,” he said.

Irregularity was also detected during fund distribution in ward 7 of Jahada Rural Municipality. The family of Shiva Nath Mandal shouldn’t have been included among people whose houses suffered ‘complete damage.’ But because he was Rural Municipality chairman Kailash Prasad Mandal’s elder brother, they were provided with the relief fund. “The chairman arranged for his nephews Shashi and Santosh to receive the funds,” said Sanjay Kumar Sah.

Family of Ashish Sah of Jadaha-7. Despite being affected in the flood, the family wasn’t provided with relief fund. 

A year ago, half of around 50 houses in Sirsiya Tole were damaged due to flood. But only Bedka Murmu, a local, was included among the victims. “The ward chairman enlisted people close to him and distributed relief funds to them,” said Rajesh Kumar Hemran, a local. “There was huge discrimination during distribution of relief funds.”

For example, Urmila’s house wasn’t affected in the flood. But she was enlisted as a beneficiary because she is an elder sister of Bhagwan Beshra, the ward-7 chairman.  Krishna Lal Sah, a resident of Najhare village of Jadaha Rural Municipality and a regional member of Federal Socialist Forum, said local representatives had included their relatives and family members as beneficiaries.

Kattik Mandal, a ward-7 member, directed his office to provide relief funds to his wife Usha Devi Gangai and elder brother Dharam Raj Mandal. He even succeeded in directing funds to his younger brother’s father-in-law. Though their houses had only been partially damaged, they were included in the ‘completely damaged’ category. He was even complicit in getting an Indian woman, Badami Devi Masomat, registered as a flood victim in Nepal. The woman, whose house lies in the no man’s land along India-Nepal border, received the fund after Kattik pulled strings, according to Sanjay Kumar Sah, a local.

While local representatives were using the relief funds at their will, the real victims are still waiting for a hand-out. The flood damaged the house of Bharat Lal Rajbanshi in Jahada-1, Budhnagar. But he hasn’t received a single penny. “People had come to my house to collect details, but I haven’t received anything yet,” he said. In the same area, Kaushilya Rajbanshi was among the flood victims, but she wasn’t enlisted for relief fund. “Ward officials included people’s name at their will. That’s why my name wasn’t in the list,” she said.

Around 30 Dalit families live along the road at Kalabanjar Tole in Jadaha. All of them are flood victims. Floods on Singhiya and Lohandra rivers had damaged their houses. But none of the victims received relief fund. “People came and took our details, but we haven’t received any funds,” said Rishav Dev, an elder.  

An arbitrary list

On August 20, 2017, the all-party committee of Jadaha-1 collected the names of flood victims. But two weeks later, local representatives made changes to the list to include their relatives and neighbors. Even the local representatives themselves have been found to have ripped off the funds using fake information.

Ward member Umesh Kumar Sah was listed as beneficiary in both ‘completely damaged’ and ‘partially damaged’ categories. Under ‘completely damaged’ category, he has listed himself as ‘Umesh Sah’ whereas under ‘partially damaged’ it’s ‘Umesh Kumar Sah’. “My house was also damaged in the flood,” he claimed.

He has also included his elder brother Ramesh’s name under both categories. After the flood, local party leaders had prepared a list of flood victims. Ramesh was listed at 27 under ‘partially damaged’ category. But later, the ward chairman and ward members added his name to the list of ‘completely damaged’. His number under the category was 72.

Those who had good relations with the ward chairman and village elders have included their names in both categories. For example, Bhim Nath Sarbariya, Bijay Sarbariya and Sita Sarbariya, all residents of ward-1, have benefitted from the duplication. But they are not eligible for relief under ‘completely damaged’ category.

The all party committee had submitted a list of 726 people including 365 under ‘completely damaged’ and 361 under ‘partially damaged’ to the ward office. But Yadav, the ward chairman, removed some of the real victims from the list. Then, he added names of people close to him. On September 6, 2017, Yadav made changes to the original list and created a new one.

“The ward chairman added people close to him and his party cadres to the list, which has now reached 502,” said Shiveshwar Rajbanshi, a local. “He allowed people who didn’t suffer damage during floods to be included as victims.” The ward office removed Maoist party supporters from the list and added Federal Socialist Forum members on it, according to Mohammad Mokin, a Maoist member. Four ward members and war chairman were elected from Federal Socialist Forum.

Family of Bharat Lal Rajbanshi of Jadaha-1. The family wasn’t provided with the fund. Photos : Kamal Rimal

Similar situation prevailed in ward-3. After the flood, the all-party committee of ward-3 prepared a list of 368 people whose houses had suffered ‘complete damage’. But when the ward office published the list, the number had reached 441. In the absence of ward chairman Anil Thakur, his deputy Sukhit Lal Rajbanshi had added people close to him to the list.

When Rajbanshi added 73 people to the list, he included all of his relatives and fellows. But the real victims were missing from the list. The flood had damaged the house of Mohammd Taslim, a 73-year-old from ward-3, Sakhuwatari. His name was among the victims in the first list prepared after the flood. But his name was not there when he went looking for relief fund. “My house was swept away in the flood. I couldn’t rebuild it. Now I sleep at the veranda of my son’s house,” Taslim said.

Though he himself added the names, Sukhit Lal has tried to show that they were approved by the all-party committee.  In order to do that, he allowed his fellow committee members to add names to the list. He persuaded a Nepali Congress member to include two sons and young brother of Chaithi Rishidev in the list.

Initially, local teachers were sent to collect names of the victims. But someone complained about it at the administration. So, the all-party committee was entrusted with preparing the list, according to Thakur.  This was the list in which Sukhit Lal had added new names. “He added 73 new names when I was away,” said Thakur.

But Sukhit Lal said he had added new names because the real victims had not been included in the list. “The floodwaters had entered everyone’s home. It was hard to distinguish between victims and non victims. So, I included everyone,” he said.

There’s one more example of arbitrariness in the making of the list. Umesh Rajbanshi, a ward chairman candidate from Loktantrik Forum in the local polls, has been included in the list of flood victims. But he’s not sure how he was included in it.

Rajbanshi said it was meant to malign his family. “The ward chairman included it to tarnish my image,” he said. “I was surprised when I was called to receive the money.”

San Dev Satbariya, a Maoist who lost the polls for ward chairman, was also asked to collect 25,000 rupees as relief fund. But it made him confused. “My house didn’t suffer any damage. It was meant to silence us,” he said. He decided not to take the offer.

Asking bribe to be listed

Kaushilya Devi’s hut was damaged in the flood.  She asked Hari Om Rajbanshi, a ward office official, to register her name in the list. But he said he would do so only after receiving 10,000 rupees. “I received the fund only after I borrowed money to pay him bribe,” she said.

Rajendra Rajbanshi paid 200 rupees to Hari Om to be listed, but he was not included in it. So he paid another 2000 rupees to him. But Hari Om denied receiving bribe for adding to the list. “Do they have a receipt for the money? If they don’t, how can they prove it?” he said.  Hari Om had charged them money saying that they needed to pay to open a bank account. But Tourism Development Bank had opened their accounts without any cost.

Jahari Devi, Kaushilya Devi’s neighbour, had similar experience. “Omkar (Hari Om’s elder brother) had asked for 5000 rupees. I didn’t have the money. So I was not in the list,” she said. Jit Narayan Rajbanshi, a resident of Jadaha-1, had same experience. “Omkar told me to pay him 2000 if I wanted him to add to the list. I couldn’t pay him. So I wasn’t added to the list,” he said. “The list was prepared by all-party committee. But everyone is accusing me of taking bribe,” Omkar said.

Seventy-year-old Rasilal Das, who was displaced by the flood, didn’t receive the fund, either. “People who came to add to the list asked for 2000 rupees,” said Das, who has built a hut in his relative’s plot. “How can I pay them?”

Relief funds have been handed out to beneficiaries of ward-1, 5,6 and 7 of Jadaha Rural Municipality. But it has been halted after a complaint of corruption was registered at the Commission for Investigation on Abuse of Authority, according to Mandal, the chairman of the Rural Municipality. Only a few wards have distributed their share from the 302.3 million rupees fund for 1289 victims of 17 local bodies in Morang district, according to the District Administration Office.