Kathmandu, September 1

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) — the central monetary authority — has directed banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to earmark all bank accounts that have been opened by multiple organisations to collect relief funds for the landslide and flood victims across the country.

Issuing a directive on Thursday, the central bank has directed all the BFIs to set up a system, which automatically transfers the funds that are deposited in the bank accounts opened to collect relief funds to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

Earlier, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) had sent a letter to NRB requesting it to track the donations collected by different groups and make a provision to transfer the amount to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.

“It is an initiative of the central bank to establish a one-window system to distribute the relief amount,” said Narayan Prasad Paudel, spokesperson for NRB. He said NRB does not have any data of such accounts that have been opened by individuals, non-government organisations and various community groups.

“MoF also requested the central bank to introduce a provision for the automatic transfer of funds that have been deposited in the accounts that have been opened to collect relief funds to the PMNRF, so NRB issued a circular to this effect to all the BFIs,” he clarified.

The MoF had sent a letter to NRB requesting it to earmark all the bank accounts, which have been opened to collect relief funds in the name of flood and landslide victims, on August 18.

“We have heard that the relief funds that are being collected by different groups will not be utilised properly, so MoF requested the central bank to earmark all such bank accounts,” said an official at MoF.

According to sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs requested MoF to write a letter to NRB requesting it to earmark the bank accounts.

Multiple non-government organisations, individuals and community groups can be seen requesting the public to donate funds for the landslide and flood victims through the bank accounts opened by them.

The aforementioned groups had criticised NRB and the government agencies when they earmarked the bank accounts that were opened to collect relief funds for earthquake victims two years back. However, the government enforced the law and automatically transferred amounts deposited in such bank accounts.