Bajura, February 8

Bajura is all set to distribute social security allowance, which was not distributed for the past two years because the then VDC secretary had fled with the money two years ago from the remote district.

A total of 88 allowance recipients from as many as 22 VDCs, including Wai, Sappata, Jagannath and Sadhu, among others, were deprived of the facility for two years.

The then secretary of Jagannath VDC Ram Prasad Joshi had taken away Rs 6.39 million in social security allowance.

VDC secretaries Kaman Singh Kunwar, Dil Bahadur Budha and Joshi had jointly taken the money saying theft they would distribute it to the target group from the district development committee on June 14, 2013.

But Joshi had fled with the money when they were taking shelter on the way their house the same night.

Security personnel had arrested the Joshi three days after the incident and the money was seized from him according to his statement.

Later, the allowance was saved in Rastriya Banijya Bank in the district.

Following the incident, the security force had registered a theft case against Joshi.

A single bench of judge Rajendra Kumar Acharya had sentenced him a year ago. The court had demanded Rs 3.37 million for his release.

After frequent appeals and delegations sent to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development, a secretary level meeting decided to distribute the allowance.

Local Development Officer Arjun Prasad Subedi said that they would start distributing the allowance after holding a meeting of social the district coordination committee soon.