More than Rs. 1.10 billion deposited in the National Welfare Fund (NWF) has remained idle as nobody knows how to use it for the benefit of the workers.
After realising the need to utilize the fund, the government has declared in the current budget that it will formulate short- and long-term programmes in coordination with national-level trade unions.
However, the welfare committee of the NWF has not made any decision on how to utilise the fund.
"We are thinking of introducing programmes only after recruiting the needed staff to operate and manage the fund," said Amal Kiran Dhakal, acting director general of the Department of Labour and a member of the welfare committee.
According to the Department of Labour, they will need at least five persons including a manager.
Dhakal said that as the fund was being raised from the workers, they needed to incorporate the ideas of the trade unions regarding how the money should be used.
"We have received various suggestions from the major trade unions," said Barun Kumar Jha, member secretary of the welfare committee. He said that there was a study report about using the fund in health services and the hospital sector.
Hari Dutta Joshi, a member in the welfare committee representing the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions said that the fund was not sufficient to be utilized in the hospital sector. "The money we have will be insufficient for hospitals, so we are discussing how best to use it," he said. "The fund has to be used in sectors which provides good results in the long term."
The NWF was formed a decade ago under a provision of the Bonus Act 1974 to promote the welfare, rights and security of labourers. As per the act, every enterprise should distribute 10 percent of its net profit to the workers as bonus, and 30 percent of the remaining amount should be deposited into the NWF.
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