Local governments take charge of flood relief after criticism of centralised response

Authorities in Nepal’s flood-hit Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts have created six-party committees to coordinate relief, shifting responsibility toward local governments after criticism of the initial response.

The committees include representatives from the Rastriya Swatantra Party, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Nepali Communist Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Shram Sanskriti Party. Shambhu Prasad Regmi, Nuwakot’s chief district officer, said the body would coordinate relief distribution through local governments.

A similar arrangement has been established in neighbouring Rasuwa, one of the districts hardest hit by the August 26 Bhotekoshi floods. The move followed an all-party meeting on August 27 that called for local governments to lead relief and rehabilitation in affected areas. That meeting also agreed to create a central all-party mechanism to improve coordination.

The government began transferring responsibility for relief distribution to local authorities four days after the meeting. It had initially assigned security agencies to distribute aid through a centralised, single-channel system. Local representatives and others criticised that approach, arguing that excluding local governments had made the distribution of relief less effective.