Efforts by the government to resolve issues within Nepal’s cooperative sector have fallen significantly short of savers’ expectations. Complaints have been filed that 187 cooperatives within the Kathmandu Metropolitan City have failed to return savings to their members, while thousands of savers across the country remain waiting to reclaim their deposits. Cooperative expert Dr. Ramesh Chaulagai has stated that identifying and liquidating concealed assets by cooperative management to reimburse savers is an extremely challenging task. (22 Shrawan, Kathmandu)
The government is currently focused on promoting the partial return of funds to small savers from 23 troubled cooperatives. However, while millions of savers nationwide have not yet received their money back, the government’s attention remains limited to only the problematic cooperatives. Savers have lodged complaints about the inability to withdraw deposits from cooperatives operating at local government levels. Specifically, 187 cooperatives within Kathmandu Metropolitan City have been reported for failing to refund over NPR 800 crore collected from thousands of savers, prompting formal complaints at the metropolitan office.
The National Campaign Federation for Cooperative Saver Protection currently represents victims from more than 619 cooperatives. The federation has submitted requests to various authorities to declare these cooperatives as troubled. According to the National Cooperative Authority, more than 894 complaints have been filed against over 800 cooperatives. Since the appointment of Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s government, the authority has lacked leadership. So far, the federal government has declared only 23 cooperatives as troubled, Bagmati Province 5, and Koshi Province 1. Relevant authorities continue to hesitate in officially declaring cooperatives as problematic.
