Kathmandu - The Nepali Congress has decided to conduct on-site inspections of villages in Rasuwa, Dhading and Nuwakot districts that were hit by floods and landslides along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river corridors, with the field visit scheduled to begin immediately after the Chhath festival. The decision was taken at a meeting held at the party's central office in Lalitpur in the presence of party President Gagan Kumar Thapa. Along with the planned inspection, the party will also launch a warm clothing distribution drive and a mental health counselling campaign for the flood victims, with General Secretary Prakash Rasaili Sneh communicating the outcomes of the meeting.
Congress leaders meet at central office before heading to the field
The meeting, convened at the Nepali Congress central office in Lalitpur, focused on how the party should respond to the disaster in the three hill districts. Party President Gagan Kumar Thapa was present as leaders discussed the situation in the flood and landslide-affected settlements, and the decisions that emerged were shared publicly through General Secretary Prakash Rasaili Sneh. The presence of the party president at the meeting underlined the weight the Congress has placed on the visit, which will take its leaders to affected communities across Rasuwa, Dhading and Nuwakot.
The central outcome of the discussion was a commitment to go to the ground. The party decided to visit the affected villages right after the Chhath festival, a timing that will allow the team to see first-hand the condition in which flood-affected people are living once the festival period has passed. According to a report by Nepal Press, the purpose of the inspection is to understand the situation of the flood-affected people in the three districts, while Rato Pati similarly reported that the Congress has decided to visit the affected areas in order to assess conditions there.
The scheduling around Chhath is notable. Chhath is one of Nepal's major festivals, and public and administrative life tends to slow during the festive period. By fixing the inspection for immediately after the festival, the party appears to be aiming to ensure that its leaders can devote full attention to the assessment as normal routines resume in the affected districts.
Warm clothing and mental health support for victims
Beyond the inspection itself, the meeting settled on two measures of direct support for the flood victims. The first is a campaign to distribute warm clothing to the affected. The three districts lie in Nepal's mid-hills, where November brings a sharp chill, and the distribution is aimed at helping affected families cope with the cold as they continue to deal with the aftermath of the floods and landslides.
The second measure, a mental health counselling campaign, stands out as a less common element of relief efforts. Disasters of this kind affect survivors' mental wellbeing as well as their material condition, and by building counselling into its response the Congress has signalled that it sees psychological support as part of the assistance owed to the flood-affected communities. The campaign will run alongside the warm clothing drive as part of the party's package for the victims.
Decisions on rehabilitation, relief and service delivery
According to General Secretary Sneh, the meeting also took decisions on rehabilitation, relief distribution and public service delivery. Together, these three areas sketch the party's broader agenda for the flood-hit districts. Rehabilitation points to longer-term recovery work for the affected settlements, relief distribution covers the immediate supply of assistance to victims, and public service delivery concerns making sure that people in the affected areas continue to receive the services they are entitled to.
Taken together with the planned field visit, the decisions suggest the party intends to pair a first-hand assessment of conditions with follow-up measures rather than limit itself to a single visit. The findings from Rasuwa, Dhading and Nuwakot are expected to inform how the party's relief and rehabilitation commitments are carried forward. The key decisions from the meeting can be summarised as follows:
- Conducting on-site inspections of the flood and landslide-affected villages of Rasuwa, Dhading and Nuwakot immediately after the Chhath festival
- Distributing warm clothing to the flood victims
- Running a mental health counselling campaign for the affected
- Moving ahead with decisions on rehabilitation, relief distribution and public service delivery
The flood-hit districts and the road ahead
The three districts covered by the inspection lie in Nepal's north-central hills. The Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems flow through this region, and it is the villages along these rivers that were hit by the floods and landslides. Rasuwa lies along the country's northern border, while Dhading and Nuwakot stretch to its south along the Trishuli valley. The Congress team's itinerary will take it to affected settlements across all three districts, giving the party a district-wide view of conditions rather than a single snapshot.
The party has not, in the announcements made so far, detailed the exact composition of the visiting team or a day-by-day itinerary. What has been made clear is the sequence: the meeting decisions are in place, the warm clothing and counselling campaigns are set to be launched for the victims, and the inspection will begin as soon as the Chhath festival concludes. For the flood-affected people of Rasuwa, Dhading and Nuwakot, the coming days will show how one of Nepal's major political parties translates its commitments on relief, rehabilitation and service delivery into action on the ground.
