JANAKPUR, April 30: Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha has said the government will be harsh on offenders for ensuring justice to the usury victims.
Inaugurating the Central Office of the Usury Investigation Commission in Janakpurdham today, the home minister described loan sharking as a remnant of feudalism and reiterated that the government would present itself unsympathetically in bringing to book the accused offenders for putting to an end this evil practice.
Stating that loan sharks have been exploiting the victims on various pretexts, boasting their connection to powerful people and documents, the home minister warned that the government would not tolerate any kind of unscrupulous practices.
"Change has come in the country with the contribution of hundreds of thousands of downtrodden people, but still the remnants of oppression, exploitation and feudalism in various names exist in society. Usury is one such problem. The main priority of the present government is to achieve prosperity with social justice as envisaged in the Constitution," he explained.
DPM Shrestha also called for cooperation from all the three tiers of the government, security bodies and the political parties as the Investigation Commission has been set up with a special priority and objectives.
"Such types of commissions were also formed in the past but they failed to win the people's trust as citizens' problems remained unchanged despite the identification of the issues by such bodies," the minister said, adding that the Commission formed to deal with the loan-sharking problem had its substantive plans and it would be able to address the complaints and grievances of each victim in a just way.
Usury victims' march for justice kicks off
According to the minister, the government is committed to act against loan-sharking as per the five-point agreements reached with the "Loan-sharking Victims Struggle Committee."
"A new law is in the offing to criminalize money lending in an inappropriate way. The Investigation Commission has already started its business. A mechanism headed by the Chief District Officer has been formed in each district to facilitate the Commission and the government is coordinating to end the situation that denies justice to victims in absence of sufficient evidence against loan-sharking."
The minister warned that the culture to provide political patronage to the accused and the administrative unwillingness to act seriously on complaints will be deconstructed, urging all political parties and government mechanisms to cooperate with the government towards that end.
Commission Chair Badri Bahadur Karki said the Commission’s central office had been already set up in Janakpur and it had already started working. He urged all bodies concerned for cooperation to meet the Commission’s goals. He pledged that the Commission would minutely assess the problems and sort them out justifiably.
Madhesh Province Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav said the province could not address the issues of illegal money-lending including other provincial problems due to the lack of rights.
Claiming that the people in question would be booked within 24 hours once there is cooperation from the police and government employees, CM Yadav demanded that the federal government address their demands at the earliest.
"There are many problems including corruption, irregularities and loan sharking. But, the provincial government has become a mere spectator over these matters as we lack police and civil servants. Initiatives should be taken to address these problems. Many of these problems can be sorted out once there is cooperation with the provincial government."
Other speakers including CPN-UML Parliamentary Party deputy leader, Madhesh Province, Dipendra Thakur, CPN (Maoist Center) PP leader Bharat Prasad Sah, and Janamat Party PP leader Mahesh Prasad Yadav on behalf of their respective parties pledged to provide help to tackle loan sharking.
On the occasion, Manoj Paswan from the victims of loan sharking thanked the government for its promptness to implement the five-point agreement to resolve their problems.
Stating that around 90 percent people have been the victims of loan sharking, he demanded that the commission be serious about resolving their problems.
The government on April 1 reached a five-point agreement with the protesting victims of loan sharking who had reached the federal capital, Kathmandu, all the way from various districts of Madhesh Province.
Following this, a three-member probe commission has been formed under the chairperson of former chairperson of the administrative court, Badri Bahadur Karki.
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