Bagmati Province Begins Refunding Small Savers in Cooperative Crisis Relief
In a major step to address Nepal’s ongoing cooperative crisis, the Bagmati Province government has officially commenced the refund process for small depositors of five financially troubled cooperatives.
The initiative was formally launched on Tuesday by Bagmati Chief Minister Indra Bahadur Baniya. During the inaugural phase of the program, held at the Bagmati Province Good Governance Centre in Jawalakhel, the provincial government distributed approximately Rs 1.7 million to 42 affected depositors.
This initial relief effort prioritizes vulnerable savers holding deposits ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 100,000. The funds are being returned to victims of five crisis-hit institutions declared problematic by the province: Civil Savings and Credit, Darshan Savings and Credit, Sumeru Savings and Credit, National Namobuddha Savings and Credit, and Laligurans Savings and Credit Cooperative.
According to the provincial Problematic Cooperative Management Committee (PCMC), these five institutions have accumulated a staggering Rs 22.38 billion in claims from over 14,000 anxious depositors. To facilitate ongoing recovery, the committee recently published a list of 114 major loan defaulters, demanding immediate repayment to help rebuild the refund pool.
Chief Minister Baniya acknowledged that weak state monitoring historically left public savings vulnerable. He emphasized the government’s commitment to systematically recovering the remaining funds from cooperative operators and debtors to ensure all affected savers are eventually compensated.
