Govt forms team to hold talks with loan shark victims

KATHMANDU: The government has formed a committee to hold talks with people who have been victimized by loan sharks.

The team is led by Rudradevi Sharma, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, and includes Umakant Adhikari, Under Secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, and Janga Bahadur Dangi from the Ministry of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs as members.

Hundreds of victims came to Kathmandu on Monday, walking for 12 days all the way from Bardibas of  Mahottari, to draw the attention of the government toward the atrocities of the loan sharks. They protested against the government.

The victims are demanding cheaper loans, the scrapping of unauthorized local mortgaging contracts known locally as tamaksuk, and the enactment of stringent laws against unscrupulous lending, among others.