Bajura, August 27

As many as 265 new mothers have been deprived of parturition allowance in municipalities, including Budhinanda Municipality of Bajura district, for the past seven months.

As many as 136 new mothers, who delivered babies at Kolti Primary Health Centre, 34  new mothers at Pandusen Health Post and 18 new mothers at Badhu Health Post have yet to get parturition allowance.

A new mother receives Rs 3,000 for delivering baby and Rs 800 for pregnancy check-up at a government health facility. Pandusen Health Post In-charge Nripraj Giri said his repeated request to the municipality to release the allowance had gone in vain.

Budhinanda Municipality Health Coordinator Jashiram Luwar said that his office could not provide the budget as it was yet to receive the fund from the centre. “We had received Rs 1.3 million last year and have already sent the money to the concerned health centres,” he added.

However, data at the Ministry of Health and Population showed that Rs 2.8 million was sent to Budhinanda Municipality, in three phases. “We allocated Rs 2.8 million to the municipality in three phases. If they had informed us about the budget crunch, we would have sent the money on time. It is the fault of municipality and the health coordinator,” said Planning Department Chief Surya Khadka at the ministry.

Similarly, as many as 77 new mothers at Triveni Municipality, and 30 in Khaptad Chhededaha Rural Municipality have been deprived of their parturition allowance.