Nawalpur, Jan. 10: Shree Sikshya Bodhini Community Secondary School in Sankhadev of Hupsekot Rural Municpaity-4, Nawalpur has been found collecting Rs. 464,798 as interest from a loan amount of Rs. 40,000. Additionally, the school had sent notice to the loan taker to pay Rs. 636,796 as interest until July 5, 2023.
More than a decade ago, local Dil Bahadur Rai had taken a loan of Rs. 40,000 from the school and transferred the loan to another local Bel Bahadur Khala. Similarly, Khala transferred the loan to another local Bhim Bahadur Darlami. Since then, Darlami has been paying the interest amounting to approximately half a million.
Darlami said, “A friend of my friend had borrowed Rs. 40,000 at the annual interest rate of 24 per cent. Since, I was in debt to my friend, he transferred the loan of his friend to me. After that, I have already paid Rs. 464,798 in two installments. However, the school sent me a notice stating that I still need to pay Rs. 636,796.”
Earlier, the school had sent the notice with the signature of former headmaster Krishna Prasad Neupane.Padar Bahadur Darlami, son of Darlami, said that the school charged compound interest on the loan. Former headmaster Neupane said that he had sent notice to Darlami as per the instruction of the school management committee. He further said the committee might have additional information regarding the issue.
While issuing a loan, Mitra Lal Tiwari was the headmaster of the school. When asked about the issue, Tiwari said that he had forgotten about it since it happened a long time ago. “It has already been 7-8 years since I left the school. I don’t have an update on the issue,” he said.
“At that time, we used to collect money through ‘Dhanyanchal’ (a process to collect paddy and equivalent cash from people) to pay teachers hired internally. We had invested the money collected from Dhanyanchal in loans to those ready to take it at 24 per cent interest rate.”
Mahendra Pandey, Chair of Ward No. 4, said that at that time it was decided to use the money raised by keeping ‘Dharmabhakari’ (a charity) to run the school. As a result, they started giving loan at 24 per cent interest rate. He said, “It is impossible to speak without seeing the accounts since the transaction was done by the previous committee.”
Durga Singh Saru, current headmaster, said that they would conduct a detailed study on the issue by calling the members of previous management committee.Meanwhile, Darlami has registered a complaint at the district administration office stating that the school had done unfair transaction with him.
Mukti Ram Rijal, Assistant Chief District Officer, informed the administration had instructed the District Police Office to coordinate to solve the issue. He said, “A complaint has been filed. Following it, the Chief District Office has instructed the district police to discuss the matter with both the parties.”
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