The tornado victims of Hardiya, Subarna Rural Municipality-4, picketed the District Administration Office (DAO), Bara, on Thursday, after their names were excluded from the list of beneficiaries.

Earlier, the victims staged a sit-in and padlocked the ward office protesting against the decision of the government body but to no avail. So, they decided to picket the DAO and stage the demonstration. After being enlisted as beneficiaries, many victims had dismantled their partially damaged houses expecting help to build new ones. But sadly, their names were removed from the list nearly after two months.

Prabhawati Devi, 70, of Hardiya laments that they were compelled to stage continuous protests as they have no houses to live in. “When the parliamentary committee publicized the list, my name was there.

However, it was removed later under political pressure,” said Prabhawati. She accused the rural municipality chair Mahendra Yadav and ward chief Dolendra Prasad Yadav of manipulating the Chief District officer (CDO) and army to remove their names from the beneficiaries’ list stating that their houses were only partially damaged.