Manpower shortage in reconstruction after Jajarkot earthquake

Although some municipalities of Jajarkot tried to start the reconstruction work on their own, the lack of manpower has become a problem. The earthquake victims who are trying to build a house with their own investment also have problems due to lack of workers. Mahendra Shah, the former Chairman of Barekot Rural Municipality, tried to build the house according to the standards after the house collapsed in Thaple located in the headquarters of Khalanga. For which he started it 2 months ago. But the work of the first floor has not yet been completed. "I tried to build a house in advance to see if I would not find workers later," he said. Nar Bahadur Nepali, General Secretary of Red Cross Karnali Province, said that due to the lack of skilled and unskilled manpower who do not have good knowledge of carpentry and carpentry in the district and the increase in the trend of emigration of less educated manpower, the reconstruction is likely to be delayed. "Until now, as many carpenters and joiners are working here, they are building houses in the traditional way," he said, "There are no skilled manpower at the local level, due to which there is a big challenge to build earthquake-resistant houses." Kamal Rana, resident of Bheri Municipality-3, which suffered more human and physical damage, said that in the present situation, skilled carpenters and carpenters (masons) are no longer available to build houses. He also tried to build a house without government subsidy, but could not start due to lack of workers. "After learning to work here, they will go abroad," he said.

Bheri municipality head Chandraprakash Gharti said that there is also a shortage of semi-skilled workers for reconstruction. He said that the temporary accommodation was also built by apprentice masons. "Currently, construction workers in the district are getting a daily wage of 800 to 900 rupees. In this way, the workers here can earn up to 25,000 per month," he said. According to him, at least 10,000 workers are required for house construction in the district.

The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Urban Development of the Karnali Province Government is working to prepare skilled manpower for the construction of infrastructure and earthquake-resistant housing in earthquake-affected municipalities. According to the legal officer of the ministry, Vikas DC, they have planned to produce 500 skilled manpower in the next 2 months by coordinating with various international and local non-governmental organizations that came to assist in the earthquake.

In order to solve the problem of lack of manpower, Helvetas has started providing ``A level'' training in earthquake-resistant house construction to about 500 youths in Bheri and Nalgad municipalities of Jajarkot and Aathbiskot municipality and Saniveri rural municipality of Rukum West, which have suffered more physical damage.

In the first phase, training has been started targeting Bheri Municipality-1 and 3, Helvetas Skills and Reconstruction Project Coordinator Dinesh Pandey said. The 50-day training, which began on Wednesday, will help to solve the problem of manpower shortage in reconstruction. Pandey informed that they will work together with the provincial government to avoid the shortage of carpenters while constructing earthquake-resistant houses and to solve the problems that may arise during reconstruction.

Industry and Consumer Protection Office Jajarkot is also preparing manpower to build infrastructure in the earthquake-affected municipality. Mahendra Kumar Bhadel, head of the office, said that the work of preparing manpower by training in 12 clusters to build safe and temporary housing to be built in all parts of the district is going on.

According to the data of the district administration office, 73 thousand 8 houses were destroyed in Jajarkot and Rukum West due to the earthquake, so far 68 thousand temporary houses have been built. The government had decided to give 25/25 thousand rupees in 2 installments to make temporary housing. But the earthquake victims who built a temporary tower have not yet received the second installment.