The committee is led by Former Chief of Special Court Gauri Bahadur Karki

KATHMANDU, April 4: The government has formed a three-member probe commission to address the problems of loan-sharking victims.

A cabinet meeting held on Monday afternoon decided to form the probe commission under the chairmanship of former head of the Special Court Gauri Bahadur Karki. Additional Inspector General of Nepal Police Uttam Raj Subedi and Attorney General Ganesh Babu Aryal are members of the commission.

The move of the government comes after it signed a five-point agreement with the loan-sharking victims, who arrived in Kathmandu from various parts of the country, to exert pressure on the government to address their problems. Minister for Information and Communications Technology Rekha Sharma said that the probe commission was formed in line with the same agreement.

Minister Sharma, who is also the government’s spokesperson, said that the probe commission has been given a three-month period to prepare a concrete and practical report along with recommendations so that the problems of loan-sharking victims can be resolved.

Sharma said that the probe committee will look into where and how the loan-sharking victims have been cheated and what their real problems are. The probe commission has been entrusted with the mandate to come up with concrete and practical recommendations to resolve their problems once and for all.

“There is no need to come to Kathmandu for this as the probe commission has been formed to work from the field itself to solve the problem. Since the probe panel will stay in Janakpur, it will find a solution from there," she said.

On Saturday, the agitating loan-shark victims and the government signed a five-point agreement with the government and called off their protests.

The two sides agreed to solve the problems of loan sharking victims by forming a probe commission with a mandate to study various dimensions of exploitations that the money lenders have been imposing on the poor people and recommend the government with the necessary measures.

The two sides also agreed to form a coordination committee led by the chief district officer at each of the districts to address the complaints of the loan-sharking victims. In an effort to respond to the demands of the victims of illegal money lending, the government has decided to amend the Criminal Code to criminalize the act of usury. 

Earlier last year as well, the government had formed a taskforce to contain loan-sharking. However, it failed to solve the problems of the victims. 

 
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