Rs 4.7 billion spent for former combatants after CPA

http://www.nepalnews.com/main/index.php/news-archive/2-political/7319-rs-47-billion-spent-for-former-combatants-after-cpa.html

Monday, 05 July 2010 08:26


The government has sanctioned about Rs 4.7 billion for the salary and up keeping of former combatants affiliated to Unified CPN (Maoist) since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006, Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) reported.

The government has been providing a salary of Rs 5,000 per month per person and a per diem of Rs 75 in remote districts and Rs 60 in other districts to the combatants. The salary was Rs 3,000 per month earlier.

According to accountant of the Office of the central coordinator for cantonment management at the Ministry of Peace and Rehabilitation Bishnu Wagle, the ministry has sanctioned Rs 3.14 billion as salary and Rs 1.56 billion for up keeping to the cantonments.

The combatants have been staying at seven major and 21 satellite camps in various parts of the country inlcuding Sindhuli, Chitwan, Kailali, Surkhet and Rolpa.

Initially there were 30,852 combatants. Some of them were discharged from the cantonments after the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) disqualified them. At present, officially there are 19,549 combatants in the cantonments.

The actual number of combatants staying in the cantonments could be much lower as many of them have voluntarily left the cantonments and some of them have died.

The government used to pay the salary and the per diem of the combatants in bulk earlier. It has started to pay the combatants personally in the recent months after reports about the money not reaching the combatants. nepalnews.com