Pampha Oli, a 35-year-old woman from Birendranagar Municipality-9, is a daily wage worker. For the past five years, Oli had been squirrelling away some money and depositing it in a local cooperative in the hopes of using her savings in her children’s education.

A mother of four children, Oli is the sole breadwinner of the family. Her husband is disabled and therefore unable to contribute to the family’s finances. Over the course of five years, she had managed to save around Rs50,000. That was the family’s only saving.

Oli is now doubtful she will ever see the money again.

“I have an account with the Nagarik Multipurpose Cooperative in Ward 6 of the municipality. But now the cooperative is closed and none of the employees is reachable,” said Oli. “I had been putting away some money in my account saved for a rainy day, but I started questioning my decision after the cooperative downed its shutters.”

According to Oli, she had heard rumours about the Nagarik Multipurpose Cooperative shutting down sometime in February. She then visited the cooperative to confront the employees. “The employees assured me that my money was safe and I shouldn’t believe in rumours,” said Oli.

But in the last week of March, Nagarik Multipurpose Cooperative closed and the employees went out of contact.

“The office of the cooperative is locked and none of the employees’ phones are reachable,” said Oli. “I am extremely worried. I had saved the money for emergencies and for my children’s education.”

Oli, along with other depositors, visit the cooperative every day in the hopes of getting their money back.

Khagisara Rokaya, a local of Birendranagar-6, runs a tea stall near the office of the cooperative. She has deposited Rs10,000 in her account at the cooperative. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever see my savings again,” she said.

Bharat Bam, a 37-year-old man originally from Kalikot, has been living in Birendranagar-8 for several years. He had deposited Rs500,000 in Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative, located in Birendranagar-10.

According to Bam, Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative shut down in the first week of March. Like Oli, Bam and several others have been visiting the cooperative’s office, trying to contact the employees to get their money back.

“I am going through a really tough time. Every penny I had saved at Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative is my hard-earned money,” said Bam. “My older brother also has an account at the cooperative. Both of us are really worried.”

Shiva Shikhar cooperative has the highest number of depositors in Birendranagar, according to the cooperative before it closed down. The cooperative has branches in many districts and offers seven different types of savings accounts.

Chandan Thapa, head of Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative, has been out of contact since the last week of February after issuing a notice about the cooperative’s closure. The reason given was financial crunch.

Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative was the first cooperative to close in Birendranagar, and now around a dozen cooperatives and microfinance institutions are closed, leaving thousands of depositors worried. Two cooperatives based in Birendranagar-6—Shiladevi Cooperative and Citizen Multipurpose Cooperative—closed in the first week of April. The employees of the institutions have gone out of contact.

Sudarshan Shrestha, chairman of the Citizens Multipurpose Cooperative located in Birendranagar-6, issued a notice on March 26 stating that the cooperative ran into financial losses due to the economic recession and financial crunch. The statement further says that the cooperative’s failure to recover the loans led to a dire financial situation and that they cannot release depositors’ money.

Even though the cooperatives and microfinance institutions started closing in the first week of March, the Surkhet District Administration Office was only aware of the situation after depositors started reaching the office for help.

Narayan Prasad Sapkota, chief district officer of Surkhet, said that the office learnt about the issue after some depositors came to them with complaints. “It is true that some cooperatives have closed in recent times, and the depositors are angry because they have not received their money back,” Sapkota said. “Monitoring of cooperatives will start soon, and we will try to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”

Mohanmaya Shahi from Birendranagar-10 is one of the victims of the Shiva Shikhar Multipurpose Cooperative’s closure. She said she had deposited Rs60,000 at the cooperative. “I had managed to save some money for the future,” she said. “Now I am not sure if I will ever get my money back.”