The government on Sunday invited agitating victims of usurious practices for talks.

The Ministry of Home Affairs formed a five-member team headed by Rudra Prasad Pandit, a joint secretary at the ministry, to hold dialogues with the ‘Peasants Workers Struggle Committee against Usury and Fraud’.

Stating that it is concerned over the march by usury victims to Kathmandu and other protest programmes, the ministry asked the demonstrators to come for negotiations.

Usury victims started Kathmandu-centric protests on Friday after travelling on foot for 24 days from the Kakadvitta border point in Jhapa district and Gaddachauki, the far-western border point in Kanchanpur district.

Committee chair Awadhesh Kushwaha and spokesman Neerg Navin led the march from Kakadvitta and Gaddachauki, respectively on January 30.

Chair Kushwaha said they marched the federal capital city with calls for amendments to lending-related laws and the formation of a high-powered commission to investigate loan-sharking cases.

Earlier the government had formed an inquiry commission under the leadership of Gauri Bahadur Karki, a former chairman of the Special Court, to address loan sharking problems.

According to the commission, it settled as many as 5,188 complaints of a total of 27,582 through compromise deals. Most complaints originated in eight districts of the Madhesh, and the commission has settled most of these complaints through compromise.

With the commission concluding its work by submitting a report to the government, it suggested the government authorise concerned chief district officers to continue settling disputes through compromise decrees.