Question of intent

Pick of officials in the new authority will show if the ruling parties want to solve the cooperative crisis.

After a long struggle of cooperative victims and rigorous nationwide debates, the government has brought a new law through ordinance to establish an authority and regulate the crisis-plagued cooperative sector. Thousands of victims from hundreds of cooperatives have been taking to the streets in the capital city Kathmandu as well as other major towns across the country for the past few years seeking the return of their deposits. Successive governments have signed multiple agreements with the representatives of agitating cooperative victims in this connection. Opposition parties last year obstructed parliamentary proceedings for weeks demanding a serious investigation into the embezzlements of billions of rupees. After a thorough study, the special parliamentary committee came up with a detailed report that recommended actions against several people including former home minister and Rastriya Swatantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane and former AIG of Nepal Police Chhabilal Joshi.