Karnali. A total of 16,000 disaster-prone households in Karnali state have been provided natural disaster insurance worth Rs 11.5 billion.

In the first phase, 16,072 houses in 213 wards of 15 local levels in Surkhet have been insured for disaster insurance through the ‘Ghar Bima Launch Programme’ organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law at Birendranagar, Surkhet on Tuesday.

On the occasion, Chief Minister Yamlal Kandel said that 16,072 houses of 15 local levels have been included in the insurance scheme after evaluating the houses by the insurer company in collaboration with the local levels.

“The ‘Working Procedure on Operation of Home Insurance Programme 2081 BS’ under the annual policy and programme and annual budget of the state government for the fiscal year 2081/82 BS has come into effect on February 1, 2081 BS to ensure financial security in case of loss and damage due to natural disasters and future of private residential houses of the citizens living in Karnali state,” he said. It will assure the people that the government is with us in times of disaster. ’

According to Chief Minister Kandel, the state government has started the latest works to protect the property of the citizens at a small amount. Stating that there was a need for effective operation of agriculture and animal insurance programmes in the province like home insurance, he stressed the need for taking initiative at the local level to adopt security through insurance programmes instead of providing compensation. He said that awareness should be spread at the citizen level that providing insurance at a low amount will help to avoid our risk.

Chief Secretary of Karnali State Government, Birendra Kumar Yadav, said that the government has launched the home insurance program keeping in mind the economic condition of the citizens of Karnali, geographical remoteness and disaster risk. He had advised the insurance company to work not only in sugam but also in remote areas during the disaster.

Secretary at the Ministry Pushpa Raj Shahi said that 23 local levels of 10 districts have written a letter with commitment to the local levels of the province to join the home insurance program as per the working procedure. According to him, the evaluation of private houses was started by deploying 23 insurers in 23 local levels selected and sent by the Nepal Insurance Authority as per Section 3 (4) of the procedure.

According to Section 5 (2) of the working procedure, the state government has a provision to bear a maximum premium of up to Rs 2 million per house. A total of Rs 9,824,893 has been paid as premium, he said.

Acting Mayor of Salyan Sharda Municipality Sushmita Sapkota, Chairperson of Jajarkot Barekot, Surkhet Barahatal and Kalikot Mahabai Rural Municipalities Bir Bahadur Giri, Bhim Bahadur Bhandari and Khem Bahadur Singh, among others, said that the home insurance programme in a disaster-prone province like Karnali has further strengthened the security of the citizens. They expressed commitment to make necessary coordination on behalf of the municipality to make the program initiated by the state government effective.

Ministry’s Under-Secretary Uttam Gautam said rs 35 million has been allocated for the home insurance programme in the current fiscal year 2082÷83 BS.

According to him, according to Section 4 of the working procedure, the house insurance will cover the damage caused by the earthquake, fire-related, air-borne, water-borne, land-borne, fall or washed away, lightning-related, celestial material, shock-based, self-burning, houses damaged by floods and inundation, riots and terrorism-related risks and other natural disasters.

Sharda Municipality Salyan has insured 4,707 households, Thantikandh Rural Municipality Dailekh 526, Surkhet Gurbhakot Municipality 916, Lekbesi Municipality 265, Barahatal Rural Municipality 2,469, Rukum West Triveni Rural Municipality 339 and Sanibheri Rural Municipality 212 households.

Similarly, 655 households of Tilagufa Municipality, Kalikot, 643 of Palata Rural Municipality, 680 of Mahabai Rural Municipality, 640 of Dolpa Jagdulla Rural Municipality, 1,545 of Jumla Sinja Rural Municipality, 661 of Kharpunath Rural Municipality of Humla, 1,311 of Mugu Chhayanath Rara Municipality and 733 households of Barekot Rural Municipality of Jajarkot have been insured for natural disaster.