Center and Karnali Provincial Government have started to distribute relief materials to the victims of fire in Khanda Village of Kalikot district.

A chopper with relief materials dispatched by Ministry of Home Affairs has already dropped the relief materials. Chief Minister of Karnali Province Mahendra Bahadur Shahi has already announced Rs.20, 000.00 each for the victim families as relief.

With the coordination from province government, fire victims have been provided with tarpaulin and foods.

A fire broke out at midnight and spread across Khanda village in Palanta Rural Municipality of Kalikot, gutting 87 houses yesterday. Seven persons were injured while trying to douse the fire.

“Eighty-seven houses have been destroyed in the blaze that started at midnight. The fire was doused only this afternoon, not before claiming the lives of 97 cattle,” said Kalikot Chief District Officer Chandra Bahadur Karki. He added that the wind had stoked the fire and made it difficult to control.

Palanta Rural Municipality Chairperson Laxman Bahadur Bam said the fire started from the house of Nabin Neupane before spreading to other houses.

Khanda, a village with 179 households, is the ancestral land of the Neupanes.

Police said that the cause of fire was yet to be ascertained.