By Our Correspondent, Rukum (West), Apr. 18: Elderly citizens in Rukum district are compelled to wait in a day-long queue to receive their social security allowance.

The problem surfaced after the government changed its modality of providing allowances to the elderly citizens from the bank.

“We have to wait too long for the allowances in the bank,” Soradram Thapa, a senior citizen, said. According to him, the elderly citizens were compelled to visit banks from their places and again wait to stay in the queue to receive the amount.

Thapa thinks that the changed modality of allowance distribution has saved the allowances from possible misuse. However, the compulsory provision to visit banks also caused suffering to the elderly citizens.

Elderly citizens suffer because the local bodies update the name list of the beneficiaries every three months and all of them are called to receive their amount at the same time in the same bank.

Sashiram KC, chief of Nepal Bank Ltd. in the district, said that lack of awareness on social security allowance distribution process was the reason behind the suffering.

“The authorities failed to guide their beneficiaries about the process to receive their allowance. It is the reason elderly citizens are suffering,” he said.

They have to inform the senior citizens that their allowance remains safe in the bank and they could withdraw at any time they liked. “Senior citizens have misinformation as they feel only two days in a quarter (4 months) are the days to receive their allowance which is not correct,” KC said.