HETAUDA – Authorities in Makawanpur have begun the process of declaring 58 people missing in the August 26 Bhotekoshi floods dead, following a special government procedure to establish their legal status.
The Makawanpur District Administration Office decided on Tuesday to begin verifying the missing people’s details under the Special Procedure for Verifying the Official Details of People Missing in Disasters, 2026.
Under the procedure set by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the details will be verified through the local units where the missing people had their permanent addresses, the District Disaster Management Committee and the authority.
The relevant local units must invite applications through their ward offices, allowing a maximum of five days for submission. Families of the missing must provide documents establishing their relationship with the missing person, along with a self-declaration. If no family members are available, a field inquiry report must be prepared in the presence of local police and the ward secretary.
After receiving the applications and verifying the details, local units must provide three days for claims and objections before forwarding the final list to the District Administration Office, Chief District Officer Basanta Adhikari said.
The District Disaster Management Committee must then make a decision within five days and send the verified details to the authority and the relevant provincial ministry. The process is intended to establish an official record of those missing and determine their legal status.
According to Adhikari, the verification process is being initiated under the ordinance to amend certain Nepal laws relating to disasters and the Special Procedure, 2026, published in the Nepal Gazette on October 9.
The concerned ward offices must submit details of the designated contact persons for those missing to their respective local units by October 28. They must then submit the details, along with a decision from the local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee, to the District Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee by November 4.
If local units submit the details before the deadline, Adhikari said the remaining steps will begin ahead of schedule.
According to the Makawanpur District Administration Office, 21 people from Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City remain unaccounted for, while three deaths have been confirmed there. Thaha Municipality has 20 people unaccounted for, followed by four in Manahari Rural Municipality and three in Makawanpurgadhi Rural Municipality.
Two people from Bhimphedi Rural Municipality remain unaccounted for, while one death has been confirmed there. Three people are missing from Bakaiya Rural Municipality, two each from Indrasarowar and Kailash rural municipalities, and one from Raksirang Rural Municipality.
Of the 58 people who remain unaccounted for, 41 were drivers, 15 were labourers, one was a Nepali Army personnel, and one was an engineer, according to the district administration.
Forty-five people from Makawanpur who were trapped in the floods were rescued from various locations in Rasuwa and Nuwakot.
The deaths of four people from the district in the disaster have been confirmed. Their families recovered the bodies and performed the last rites.
The victims have been identified as Suman Gole and Ramesh Magar of Hetauda-15, Uddhav Khadka of Hetauda-5, and Sabin Rana of Bhimphedi-2.
ANN/The Kathmandu Post