Insurance Board opens after a month

KATHMANDU, Dec 19: Employees of the Insurance Board (IB) finally ended their nearly-a-month-long protest programs on Sunday after the government agreed to fulfill some of their demands and expressed verbal commitment to consider rest of their demands in the days to come.



Employees Association of Insurance Board has, however, warned of resuming the protest if the government reneges on its promise.[break]



“The government has currently agreed to extend monthly lunch allowance of Rs 1,000 to IB employees and education allowance of Rs 600 per month each to up to two of their children,” a senior official of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) - the parent authority of the IB - told Republica on condition of anonymity.



Last year, the government had agreed to provide a monthly lunch allowance of Rs 500, which the employees had refused to collect saying that it was ´too low´. Likewise, the sum of education allowance earlier stood at Rs 400 per month.



The government has also agreed to revise the retirement age and conditions. The new provision allows the IB employees to retire at the age of 58 or after 30 years in service, whichever comes first, the MoF official said. Earlier, IB employees were compelled to retire after reaching 58.



The staff of the IB had launched the strike on Nov 20.

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