CHEQUE DELIVERY TO FORMER MAOIST FIGHTERS COMPLETED

CHEQUE DELIVERY TO FORMER MAOIST FIGHTERS COMPLETED
Kathmandu, 12 Feb.: The task of handing over cheques to the Maoist former combatants opting for voluntary retirement concluded today, said the Secretariat of the Special Committee for the supervision, integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist former fighters, RSS reports.
According to Committee Coordinator Balananda Sharma, the task of cheque handover in all the seven camps and satellite camps completed on Saturday and arrangements have been made for distributing cheques to those fighters who were left out during the first-phase distribution through the Secretariat in Kathmandu.
According to Mr. Sharma, of the 7,365 retiring combatants, 7,200 have received cheques and the remaining have been urged to contact the Secretariat. Until now, cheques equivalent to Rs. 1.97 billion have been distributed to the retiring fighters.
It may be noted that the Committee had initiated a process of bidding farewell to the Maoist fighters opting for the voluntary retirement on February 2. Prior to this, the regrouping of the fighters was carried out from November 19 to December 5, 2011.
As per the seven-point agreement reached among the three major parties and the United Democratic Madhesi Front on November 1, 2011, some 6,500 Maoist fighters shall be integrated into the security bodies while the remaining shall be rehabilitated and given voluntary retirement.
During the regrouping process, of the 19,602 fighters verified by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), only 16,996 participated in the regrouping. Of them, 9,705 had chosen integration, 7,365 had opted for the voluntary retirement while only six fighters had chosen the rehabilitation package.
A total of 1,498 fighters at the Chulachuli camp based in Ilam, 1281 at the Dudhauli Camp in Sindhuli, 3325 at the Shatikhor Camp in Chitwan, 2608 at the Jhyaltungdanda Camp in Nawalparasi, 2167 at the Dahaban Camp in Rolpa, 2938 at the Dashrathpur Camp in Surkhet and 3,115 at the Talbanda Camp in Kailali took part in the regrouping process.
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