The Dolakha DAO, which earned notoriety for alleged irregularities in distribution of social security allowances, saved Rs 4.6 million in the last fiscal year. [break]
The Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) provided Rs 90 million to the Dolakha DAO for social security allowances on the basis of the list prepared in the past. However, by removing some names from the old list last year, the Dolakha DAO managed to save a significant amount of money.
In the last fiscal year, the Dolakha DAO introduced a software system that could identify fake names. In addition, the DAO also intensified monitoring to prevent people from withdrawing social security allowances under fake names.
“In some VDCs, we distributed allowances by introducing a scientific system,” says Madhusudan Acharya, chief of registration section at the DAO. “In some other VDCs, we distributed allowances by reaching there.”
In Dolakha, local youth also contributed a lot to prevent fake people from getting social security allowances. Last year, some youth from Khare VDC identified fake names used for receiving allowances, which led the DAO to probe irregularities.
In the course of investigation, the DAO found that many people who were drawing social security allowances meant for the elderly had been doing so under the names of their dead parents.
Some women, whose husbands are still alive, were found to have been getting allowances meant for the single women. “We delisted all those names,” Acharya said.
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