Welfare Fund to ease off lives of ex-armies: CoAS Sharma

Khairenitar, March 24 : Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) Prabhu Ram Sharma has said the Army Welfare Fund is dedicated to the betterment of lives of former army personnel.     

At a programme organized by the Nepali Army 3 no Brigade at Khairenitar today, CoAS Sharma articulated his intent that he wanted to see the Nepali Army being able, active and self-reliant.     

"Although the aspirations and expectations of the beneficiaries are unlimited, the Nepali Army organization has been optimizing its limited resources and is effortful to uplift living standard of the beneficiaries," said Sharma.     

It may be noted that Sharma in April, 2022 had informed that the Army Fund, established in 1975, had Rs 63.97 billion in its Fund as of mid-January of the same year.     

Lieutenant General Saroj Pratap Rana lauded that the contributions and discipline maintained by the former army personnel had further glorified the organization.     

Fund's Chief Executive Officer Gaurav Tandul shared that the 32,773 former army personnel and their families had been running various projects with the concessional loan worth over Rs 7 billion provided in collaboration with the Nepal Investment Mega Bank under the NA-run welfare-based programmes.     

Nepal National Former Army Association President Digambar Sharma Rana shared that the NA-run welfare-based programmes had directly and indirectly helped increase socio-economic status of ex-armies and their families.     

The programme was attended by 6,400 former armies from Gorkha, Lamjung and Tanahu district.     

On the occasion, wheelchairs were distributed to physically-disabled persons while single women and former armies were feted. Similarly, small and medium enterprises' entrepreneurs were also honoured in the event. (RSS)