Currency note crisis in Tanahun

Madan Wagle

TANAHUN: The crisis resulted due to the shortage of higher denomination currency notes has also affected the monetary transactions in financial institutions outside of the Kathmandu Valley.

Damauli branch of Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) stopped all its transactions from yesterday

after Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Pokhara branch office failed to provide money.

Teachers and other government employees, who had thronged the NBL to withdraw their salaries, have been unable to cash their cheques due to the halt of financial activities. The situation is prompted after the NRB ran out of money and there was no stock in its branch offices.

Tankanath Parajuli, principal

of Satyawati Higher Secondary School, came to withdraw

Rs 1.8 millions meant for the salaries of 53 teachers. He, however, was compelled to return empty handed.

“In my 30-year career, this is the first time I am returning home without taking salaries of my teachers,” he said, adding, he did not know what he would tell his subordinates.

Similarly, Januka Devkota, who came all the way from Palung to take her pension amount, said that this Dashain would be a bad one due to the lack of money.

Making the matters worse,

the teachers, who were not duly informed on time about the shortage of currency notes,

however, were still come to the NBL today too.

Headmaster of Jaladevi Primary School Babulal Ale said he had been frequenting the bank with the hope that the bank could bring at least some amount from the past four days.

“I even don’t have money to foot bills for hotels and for returning home,” he said.

NBL branch manager Babulal Nepal said the teachers’ salaries could not be paid off as the bank did not get the demanded amount from the NRB Pokhara.

He said they had demanded Rs 15 crore but got only 5 crore which was withdrawn within a couple of hours on Sunday.