Nepal Collects NPR 207 Million ‘COVID-19 Fund’

The firms, individuals and organizations across Nepal are demonstrating their commitment to combat the coronavirus spread in the country.

According to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM), the ‘Coronavirus Control and Treatment Fund’ initiated by Nepali Government has received a total of NPR 207.31 million until March 30, 2020.

The contributions are as follows-

• Ncell Wasthe – NPR 100 million
• Agricultural Development Bank Ltd – NPR 12.5 million
• Global IME Bank Ltd – NPR 11.5 million
• Himalayan Bank Ltd – NPR 12.5 million
• Bhat-Bhateni Supermarket – NPR 10 million
• Non-Resident Nepali Association – NPR 10 million
• Nepali Congress – NPR 5 million
• Norvic Hospital – NPR 5 million
• Radha Madhav Samiti Nepal – NPR 1.5 million
• Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority – NPR 1.27 million
• Hetauda School of Management – NPR 1 million
• Cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane – NPR 100,000
• President Bidya Devi Bhandari – 2 months’ salary
• Gagan Thapa – 1-month salary
• Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun – 1-month salary

Earlier, the Nepali Government has initiated the fund and urged the local companies, organizations and individuals to contribute for the same.

The government has set an account at Rastriya Banijya Bank Ltd (Account Number: 196000001101) for the fund and itself has pledged to contribute NPR 500 million.

In a bid to encourage private organizations, the government has announced that it will waive off tax payments who will contribute to the fund.

Moreover, in order to restrict the irregularities from the unchecked collection of funds, the government has banned the initiation of separate funds for COVID-19.

It ordered the organizations who have already initiated separate funds to hand over their collections to the government’s fund within seven days.

So far, Nepal has reported only 5 coronavirus infection cases. However, one among them as already recovered and discharged.

As of today, coronavirus has infected 792,341 people while claiming 37,945 lives across the world.