On Monday, Parek Bahadur Mahatara of Mughahara in Kalikot, who is paralyzed below the waist, stayed in front of PMO Secretary Dhruba Sharma´s office throughout the day, seeking assistance from the state. [break]
Mahatara lay in front of Secretary Sharma´s office chamber for hours. “I will sleep here until I am assured of financial assistance,” said Mahatara. Later, he was removed from the room in a wheelchair.
According to Mahatara, he was injured when he fell from the top of his house eight months ago. Adding to his woes, his wife left him. “My wife eloped after my injury,” he rued.
Mahatara says he has already spent Rs 1.2 million on medical treatment. “Neurologist Dr Upendra Devkota told me that I would recover if I could spend Rs 500,000,” he said.
According to PMO officials, he has been seeking financial assistance for the last four months. The government also decided to provide him Rs 100,000 for his treatment.
Yet Mahatara is unlikely to get the amount as PMO officials suspect that another person of the same name and from the same district might have taken the money.
“The government has already decided to provide you Rs 100,000,” Secretary Sharma told him, adding, “Please go to the Ministry of Health and ask for your assistance as per the cabinet decision.” PMO records show that the cabinet decided to provide assistance in his name two months ago.
Mahatara is now a confused man, for he has not received the amount. “Health Minister Umakanta Chaudhary told me today to find my assistance money at the PMO after consulting you,” Mahatara told Secretary Sharma and asked, “Why am I being betrayed everywhere?”
PMO officials said they would verify whether the assistance issued in Parek Mahatara´s name was ´misused´ or not. As Mahatara cannot walk, he was taken to the PMO by his kin.
Officials say Mahatara is not the only physically challenged person to come to the PMO for financial assistance. “We are tired of handling such cases,” says an official, adding, “The practice of providing financial assistance is itself wrong.”
The PMO issued a “Directive on Financial Assistance Control Mechanism” recently, curtailing the PM´s powers to directly distribute such assistance. But the directive is still under review and has not come into effect.
The incumbent prime minister alone has distributed Rs 35 million within seven months under the heads of financial assistance, medical treatment, grants and compensation for victims.
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