Over three months after its pledge to return the up to Rs500,000 to small depositors in troubled cooperatives, the government has yet to act on its promise, citing the need to finalise guidelines to implement the decision.

During the budget presentation for the fiscal year 2024/25 on May 28, the government announced a plan to refund the savings of these small depositors.

“To solve the problem in the savings and credit cooperatives, arrangements will be made to return depositers’ money up to Rs500,000 by using the property of cooperatives operators or of their immediate kin as collateral,” the then finance minister Barsha Man Pun had announced while reading out the budget in Parliament.

During the budget presentation for the fiscal year 2024/25 in the federal parliament, Pun also outlined plans to address the problems faced by cooperative institutions.

The Post talked to the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation officials shortly after the budget presentation for clarification on how the refund plan would go ahead.

At the time, ministry officials had said the government policy, already endorsed by Parliament, would take effect from the start of the new fiscal year. However, two months into the new fiscal year, the government is still busy drafting guidelines to facilitate the refunds.

“We are still discussing the details of the guidelines,” Ganesh Prasad Bhatta, spokesperson for the ministry, told the Post. “We are discussing whether to use cooperatives operators’ property as collateral or explore other alternative solutions.”

Pun, who as then finance minister unveiled the budget for the current fiscal year, had also committed to setting up a regulatory framework consistent with principles and policies governing cooperatives.

He had also emphasised the need for a regulatory body to oversee savings and credit cooperatives and to facilitate their mergers.

While the government is still finalising the refund guidelines for small depositors, an eight-point agreement was reached between the government and cooperatives victims on Monday.

Cooperative victims had earlier resumed protests on June 24, accusing the government of failing to earnestly implement agreements signed with two ministers in the past.

The victims staged the first phase of their agitation in June last year and reached a seven-point agreement with then minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation Ranjita Shrestha.

When this agreement was not implemented, they launched the second phase of protest. On March 22 this year, they signed an eight-point agreement with another minister, Balram Adhikari, who headed the cooperative ministry at the time.

Following Monday’s new eight-point agreement where the government has again promised to return the savings, the cooperatives victims suspended their 108-day protest.

The eight points were agreed upon during a discussion between representatives from the National Campaign for Protection of Cooperatives Depositors and government officials in the presence of Arjun Prasad Pokharel, the secretary of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation.

According to the agreement, a committee has been formed with the Sub-Registrar of the Co-operative Department as coordinator. It has a mandate to continuously assist in collection and analysis of data to address issues, including the return of depositors’ savings.

The committee comprises representatives from the ministry and the national campaign.

The campaign chair, Kushluv KC, says Pal Singh KC, a victim of Kuleshwar-based Gautam Shree Cooperative, will represent them on the committee.

“The committee will monitor the inspection of crisis-ridden cooperatives and collect all the details, and categorise cooperatives,” Kushluv KC told the Post. “After analysing the collected data, the committee will present its findings and recommendations to the department.”

The committee will conduct a financial analysis of the inspected cooperatives, categorise them into well-functioning, crisis-oriented, and those in serious trouble, and recommend necessary actions.

A review meeting will be held at the Ministry of Land Management on the last Sunday of every month to review the committee’s progress.

Similarly, the agreement reaffirms the government commitment to implement the previous agreements made with cooperative victims.

Bhatta, the ministry spokesperson, claimed this time things would be different.

“The difference is that this time cooperative victims themselves will also be involved in the process, so the agreement will be implemented,” Bhatta said.

Likewise, Kushluv KC, chair of the agitating National Campaign for Protection of Cooperatives Depositors, also is optimistic.

“This time, the government has promised to start the committee’s work within two days of the agreement,” KC told the Post. “We have also agreed to include police officers in the committee work in order to enhance our study.”

“We are also eagerly looking forward to the report of the parliamentary special probe committee constituted to investigate the cooperatives scam,” he added.

The parliamentary special probe committee formed under coordination of CPN-UML lawmaker Surya Thapa completed its three-month tenure on September 7 and has been given a 15-day extension.