Rajbiraj, September 10

The decision of the Central Bureau of Statistics to use banking channels for distribution of government allowances has yet to be implemented in Saptari due to lack of cooperation from banks and financial institutions.

The bureau, following its discussion with Nepal Rastra Bank and Bankers’ Association, had written to all district development committees, metropolis, sub-metropolises, municipalities and village development committees about a month ago, telling them to make necessary arrangements for distribution of social allowances through banks and financial institutions.

Responding to the bureau’s August 3 letter, District Development Committee Saptari had written to all VDCs and municipalities under its jurisdiction to do the needful for the same.

“It has been more than two weeks since we wrote to them, but we haven’t received any response from anywhere so far,” said Harihar Chaudhary, chief of the statistics section of DDC.

Chaudhary attributed the new system’s failure to the apathy shown by the banks and financial institutions that meet the criteria set by the bureau.

Earlier, Rajbiraj Municipality had started distributing social allowances through Agriculture Development Bank, but later stopped it after the beneficiaries started going to the municipality office, citing hassles in drawing allowance from banks.

A meeting among stakeholders on July 27 had taken a decision to help the government’s plan of distributing social allowances through banking channels, and notified the banks and financial institutions of the A, B and C categories to help in this process by opening the beneficiaries’ accounts.