India opens six reconstructed schools in Nepal

New Delhi: India on Wednesday reopened six schools, reconstructed at a cost of NPR 19 million, in neighboring Nepal where they had collapsed after an earthquake.

Anurag Srivastava, Joint Secretary (North), Ministry of External Affairs of India, and Gokul Prasad Baskota, and Ganga Bahadur Tamang, both MPs in Nepal, and Dhurba Prasad Sharma, Executive Member, National Reconstruction Authority, jointly inaugurated the six newly reconstructed schools in Kavrepalanchowk, Nepal.

These schools were repaired with the help of a Government of India’s rebuilding grant, and in accordance with Nepal’s earthquake-resilient reconstruction standards, offering a better learning environment for nearly 2,000 students.

The schools are part of India’s commitment to rebuilding educational institutions in eight earthquake-affected areas with a grant of USD 50 million.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the Khopasi Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) in Panauti Municipality was also held. This health post is one of 132 being restored as part of a USD 50 million grant from India in the health sector.

This PHCC is being rebuilt at a cost of NPR 75 million and will serve nearly 15,000 people in the Kavrepalanchowk district with emergency, maternity, and child healthcare, and other medical services.

India has pledged USD 250 million in reconstruction assistance (for projects in housing, education, health, and cultural heritage sectors in Nepal). New Delhi is also funding post-earthquake rehabilitation of 50,000 dwellings in Gorkha and Nuwakot in the housing sector, 70 schools and 1 library in the education sector, and 132 buildings in the health sector.

Besides, it is also funding the restoration/retrofitting of 28 cultural heritage monuments in the cultural heritage sector.

(Venkatesh Iyer)