YSESEF goes after defaulting cooperatives
KATHMANDU, JUL 03 -
The Youth and Small Entrepreneurs Self-Employment Fund (YSESEF) has initiated proceedings against four cooperatives for defaulting loans and issued deadlines to four other delinquents.
The YSESEF said it had recovered Rs 1.05 million from the Tinau Agriculture Multipurpose Cooperative of Tansen, Palpa and Rs 928,000 from the Panchwati Herbal Production and Processing Cooperative, Pachgachhi, Jhapa. The other two delinquent borrowers are the Chhimeki Sana Kisan Agriculture Cooperative of Pavai, Solukhumbu and the Shunwarshi Savings and Credit Cooperative.
YSESEF Executive Director Binod Kumar Guragain said they took action against the cooperatives for refusing to pay back their loans to the fund. “They have been flatly refusing to pay insisting
that the government would waive their outstanding loan and interest,” he said speaking at an interaction on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the YSESEF has set the deadline for four cooperatives to settle their dues. Guragain said the fund had dispatched legal documents to Sunvarshi Savings and Credit Cooperative, Yadukuwa, Dhanusha, Sana Kisan Krishi Sahakari, Bardibas, Mahottari, Ananta Jadibuti Utpadan and Prashodhan Sahakari, Mugu and District Herbal Cooperatives Association, Jhapa. The YSESEF has accused these cooperatives of misappropriating a combined Rs 6.6 million.
The YSESEF has been providing up to Rs 200,000 each to youths and up to Rs 5 million each to groups through the cooperatives to open small businesses to generate employment for youths to help alleviate poverty mainly in rural areas.
Although the YSESEF has envisaged providing the loans particularly to groups, most of the funds have been distributed to individuals through the cooperatives. “There are very few cases where we have provided loans of Rs 5 million to groups,” said Guragain.
He added that they were considering increasing the loan amount for groups and training them. “We have already started providing training to the concerned youths in cooperation with the Council of Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT),” said Guragain, adding that the effort could help in generating job-oriented skill in the local people.
YSESEF Vice-Chairman Punya Prasad Regmi said that recovering loans from the cooperatives was becoming challenging. “Due to the example of the government regularly waiving micro-credit issued to the poor, many cooperatives have held back from paying back their loans expecting the same kind of generosity,” he said. Regmi stressed the need to review the grace period provided for repayment of loans, increase monitoring and provide effective training for achieving the target.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
