Rawa Besi Palika starts monthly widower allowance

By Rajkumar Bhattarai,Khotang, June 7: Rawa Besi Rural Municipality, in Khotang district, has commenced the distribution of a monthly widower allowance. The municipality has begun providing a monthly allowance of Rs. 1,000 to widowers aged above 45 years. 

Following the second round of local-level elections, the first executive meeting of the rural municipality passed a resolution to grant a monthly allowance to widowers aged 45 years and above. 

In line with this decision, the municipality has formulated procedures and commenced the distribution of allowances effective from July 17, 2022, said Giriraj Rana, head of the registration department at the rural municipality.

On Monday, the rural municipality disbursed nine months' allowance to 24 widowers living in its Ward No. 6. 

This marked the initial phase of allowance distribution in the local level. The Rural Municipality Chairman, Phatik Kumar Shrestha, Vice-Chairperson Kaushila Kumari Gurung, and various ward chairpersons jointly handed over the cheques to the beneficiaries.

As per the widower's allowance procedure, 2079, widowers aged above 45 years, who remained unmarried after the death of their wives are eligible to receive a monthly allowance of Rs. 1,000. 

However, only those widowers who have not received any service benefits from the Government of Nepal and who have not received a salary, pension, retirement benefits, or social security allowances from non-governmental organisations, will qualify for the monthly allowance.

The rural municipality informed that the allowance amount will be deposited into the beneficiaries' accounts every three months. 

Chairman Shrestha stated that arrangements have been made to distribute the allowances to beneficiaries in wards 1, 4, 5, and 6 from the Rastriya Banijya Bank branch office in Rawa Besi, while the beneficiaries in wards 2 and 3 will receive their allowances from the Prabhu Bank branch office in Lamidanda.