TANAHUN, March 11: On Sunday, 82 years old Prem Bahadur Gurung of Khairekot, Syangja, reached the branch of Kumari Bank situated at Dulegauda Bazaar of Tanahun to receive his and his wife's elderly allowance. After traveling for two hours in a jeep, he and his 80 years old wife Lalmati had to stay in queue for five hours.
"Though the government provided us the allowance to make our lives easier in our old age, receiving the allowance has been an ordeal for us," laments Gurung, adding, "We have to stand in queue for hours waiting for our turn to come." He says his backache becomes severe while standing for hours.
"Earlier, we were provided with allowance in our own village but now we have to travel a long distance and go through a lot of hassle to receive it," he added. During the elections, leaders of various political parties had assured to provide him the allowance at his doorstep but that was limited to words.
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It has been eight months since he has not been provided with the allowance. "If they can't provide the allowance at our doorsteps, they should at least provide it on time," said Gurung.
Himamaya Adhikari of Saldanda was also standing in the queue to receive her allowance. "In the past, we received our allowance at home and later had to go to Biruwa for it. However, after the local elections, we are obliged to go to Chitre for the same," said Himamaya, adding, "Some people can't even afford the transportation costs to reach here but still they have no option."
She too expressed her disappointment towards the leaders and representatives who had assured to increase their allowance and distribute it in their own village. Even though a bank has been established in the rural municipality center Chitrebhanjyang , locals are obliged to reach Dulegauda due to geographical difficulties.
Khim Narayan Manandhar, chairperson of the rural municipality, stated that the distribution of social security allowances was delayed due to the sluggish construction of bank. "It took a long time to open the bank and later managing the accounts and maintaining the details took further time," said Manandhar.
According to him, the local unit was preparing to conduct a health camp and distribute the allowance in the village but the elderly people chose not to wait until then. We had told the elderly and disabled that's their allowances will be provided in their own villages but they still went to the bank by traveling a long distance," Manandhar added.
