Nepalgunj, November 10, 2006

Depositers thronged branches of the Nepal Bangladesh Bank Limited (NBBL) across the country to withdraw their money after newspapers ran news items on Wednesday saying that the bank is on the verge of being declared bankrupt.

People rushed to the bank’s branches to withdraw deposits after the newspapers said that the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) was going to take over the NB Bank’s management.

In two days from yesterday, the Nepalgunj branch of the bank paid Rs 80 million in cash to its depositors, the bank said.

Chief manager of Nepal Rastra Bank in Nepalgunj, Chintamani Shiwakoti, said the NB Bank had withdrawn Rs 80 million in two days from the NRB.

The bank’s Janakpur branch paid Rs 17.5 million in cash to its depositors today, branch manager of the bank, Niraj Lamsal said. In Dhangadhi, 300 depositors withdrew Rs 23 million from the branch office today, while Rs 20 million was deposited in the bank, branch manager Prem Bahadur Shahi, said.

Depositors in Biratnagar withdrew over Rs 40 million from the bank’s branch today. An official of the bank said it paid Rs 30 million yesterday. In Dharan, depositors withdrew Rs 35 million from the bank today, bank manager Pravin Nepal said. In Hetauda, the depositors took out Rs 30.05 million from NB Bank today.

According to branch manager Navaraj Khaniya, the bank received Rs 10.43 in deposits today.

Nepal still lags behind in human development

Though Human Development Index reached 0.527 in 2006 from 0.504 in 2005, Nepal has, however, plunged down by two positions from 136th to 138th in the global ranking of development this year, a UN report released today said.

This year’s highlight of the UN Human Development Report (HDR) 2006 is water crisis in the world and it has called for 20 litres of clean water a day for all as human right.

Each year 1.8 million children die from diarrhoea that could be prevented with access to clean water and a toilet; 443 million school days are lost to water-related illnesses; and almost 50 per cent of all people in developing countries are suffering from a health problem caused by a lack of water and sanitation, the report said.

The report mentions that only 35 per cent of Nepalis have sustainable access to improved sanitation and this figure remains far from the target of 90 per cent in 2015. Releasing the report today, UNDP Resident Representative in Nepal, Matthew Kahane, said: “For some, the global water crisis is about absolute shortages of physical supply.

This report rejects this view. It argues that the roots of the crisis can be traced to poverty, inequality, and unequal power relationship.” He said there was a growing recognition that the world faces a crisis that would derail progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.