Only fighters can cash cheques: Special panel
The prime minister-led Special Committee on Thursday decided to make attendance of combatants compulsory while cashing pay cheques awarded to those opting for voluntary retirement.
The decision comes amid allegations that the pay cheques are being taken away from the retiring combatants by commanders of the Maoist army.
The cross-party committee has taken serious exception to the pressure exerted by the commanders on the combatants and has decided to set up a central hotline for
the Maoist fighters to make their grievances heard at the highest level.
“We have made the attendance of combatants with their identity cards mandatory for cashing the pay cheques,” said Nepali Congress leader and Special Committee member Ram Sharan Mahat. “We have also decided to request the banks to not make payments of the account payee cheques for a week after they are deposited.”
The Special Committee also decided to investigate the seizure of cheques, based on complaints lodged by the combatants. The members also reiterated to complete the voluntary retirement process at the cantonments by Friday.
During Thursday’s meeting, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai informed the committee of the letter sent to the Defence Ministry for beginning the integration process.
The next meeting of the Special Committee scheduled for Sunday will discuss reducing the number of combatants who have opted for integration, the process of integration and the special package for around 30 combatants with disabilities.
Send-off ends in Shaktikhor; wounded to stay put
BINOD TRIPATHI
SHAKTIKHOR, FEB 9
The discharge process of former combatants choosing retirement has concluded at the PLA Third Division camp in Shaktikhor of Chitwan.
A Special Committee Secretariat team at the camp that gave retirement cheques to the parting combatants said 1,021 former PLA fighters participated in the process. The cheque handover process was largely peaceful, said Madhubilas Pandit, the under secretary of the secretariat.
As for the reported dispute that stemmed from the PLA commanders asking 40 percent of the cash from the combatants, Pandit said, “The issue did not come in the way of cheque distribution.” Having got their severance pay, most of the retiring combatants have left the camp, save the injured and disabled ones.
Former PLA fighters, maimed and wounded during the conflict era, have demanded the government introduce a proper rehabilitation scheme for them in lieu of the retirement cheques they were handed out.
Suka Bahadur Gharti is paralysed waist down due to a bullet wound he suffered in his hip in a clash with the state forces eight years ago. This 27-year-old from Rolpa also lost the sight of his left eye hit by bullet shrapnels, while a bullet lodged inside his head has not been extracted. He said he cannot afford a surgery.
“Every month, I run up a bill of around Rs 18,000 for my medication. With such an expense, there is no way the retirement pay is going to sustain me. The government should provide us shelter treatment.”
Similar is the predicament of Tek Bahadur Buda Magar from Baglung. He suffered serious shrapnel wounds and partial paralysis when an explosive went off accidentally on his hand.
“I don’t want to become a burden to my poor family. The money offered by the government is not going to help me get through the life as a disabled,” he lamented.
There are many others with serious disabilities and war-time wounds in the camp. They received their retirement paycheques, but they are not willing to resign themselves to their fate by leaving the camp, which was their home for five years.
Meanwhile, the PLA third division is in a state of confusion regarding the situation of the wounded combatants. Dhan Bahadur Maskey, the commander of the division, said they have demanded the PLA secretariat for additional relief and rehabilitation packages for the injured and the disabled.
Posted on: 2012-02-10 10:16
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