DoPM Director General Yam Kumari Khatiwada complained that she has been receiving calls from prisons across the country saying they have run short of money for inmate allowances, also known as “sida”. “I just received a call from Rolpa jail,” she told myrepublica.com on Friday. “Such calls keep coming here these days.”
On Friday, DoPM officials mulled over all possible means to manage allowances for over 9,000 prisoners. As per the existing laws, the government can not spend more than one third of the total budget allocated without endorsement from the House. But the government has not been able to pass the budget due to continued disruption of House business. The government unveiled its budget for the current fiscal in July.
A delegation comprising DoPM Director General Khatiwada, Joint Secretary at Home Ministry Shankar Koirala and DoPM Account Officer Gayatri Raman Khanal on Friday morning met Finance Secretary Rameshwar Khanal to apprise him about the situation.
However, Khatiwada said that Finance Secretary Khanal repeated that they could not do anything unless the House passes the budget. Khanal, instead, suggested the DOPM officials to seek Home Ministry´s help.
Officials said they have been distributing allowances to over 400 prisoners serving in Morang jail by taking loan from the Morang District Administration Office. “We have no idea how long we can manage this way,” a DoPM official said requesting anonymity.
DoPM provides Rs 45 a day to each prisoner as daily allowance. While the prison management itself provides 700 gram rice a day to each prisoner, the inmates use the daily allowance to buy vegetables, daal and edible oil, among other things. “So far, Nepal Food Corporation has been giving us rice on credit,” added Khatiwada.
Officials fear that the failure to provide allowance may prompt protests from inmates.
Director General Khatiwada said there are about 1,600 inmates in Central Jail in Kathmandu alone. Home Ministry had allocated a total Rs 390 million for “inmate allowance” this year. The DoPM has already released about Rs 350 million to 75 prisons across the country. “We have budget but are not authorized to spend it,” said another official at the DoPM.
koshraj@myrepublica.com
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