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Nepal Bank Limited And Fake Doctor
By KTM Metro Reporter
May 30, 2013: today my spouse and I went to Nepal Bank Ltd office at New Road in Kathmandu to renew the term deposit of a few hundred thousands rupees of the savings of my father. Filling out the new form took us more than a half hour. We need to give our citizenship certificates that was understandable but that was not all. We need to write down the names of three generations and of our sons and daughters, and their citizenship numbers and so on. My grandparents never had to live with citizenship certificates. Then, you have to include the receipts of the water or electricity bill in the forms. I was wondering if I were living in the suburb of Kathmandu, I would have neither a receipt of water bill nor the electricity bill because most of us in villages live neither with electricity nor with the piped-water supply. Then, the bank would certainly deny me to place any of my savings in the bank. The last but not the least, I have to draw a map of access to my home on the back page of the last sheet of the forms. Fortunately, I know how to read a map and draw a sketch of a map. However, for millions of Nepalis that did neither understand a map nor know how to draw a map, who will draw a map when they need to open an account in a bank in Nepal.
Then, at the counter of the fixed deposit of Nepal Bank at the central office in New Road, the young man with power glasses has been endlessly talking to another young man sitting next to him, and flipping the forms repeatedly pretending to work but they were actually gossiping keeping the customers waiting for a while.
I was patiently waiting for the young man behind the counter finished his gossip with a friend or a colleague I did no know. After sometimes, he felt it must be too much for me to wait; he extended his hand, and took my forms. He flipped the forms. He just showed the chairs to me to sit down. I simply obeyed. My spouse and I were sitting, and watching how the customers were lining up at the various counters.
Someone tapped on my shoulders, and pointed me to the fixed deposit counter. The young man with power glasses at the counter had apparently called us a number of times. So, he told me in an irritated voice, “you have a joint account but only you have put the signature.” He gave me the forms back. My spouse hurriedly put her signature. He checked her signature, was satisfied. We were back to the chairs.
We waited and waited. This time, his boss might me gossiping with his friend or a colleague in a cozy office keeping the customers waiting on hard cardboard chairs. After two hours of waiting, the young man behind the fixed deposit counter called my name. Another man not so young probably his boss asked him to let both of us sign on the receipt paper. Both of us signed on the receipt paper. It took us three hours to complete the renewal of the fixed deposit of a few hundred thousands rupees of the savings of my father.
By the time, the heavy rains had flooded the compound of the office of the Nepal Bank in New Road. The water has been knee deep. We removed our shoes and socks and waded to our car. I had never dreamt of wading in the compound of the oldest bank in Nepal. I thought that the bank has been really old and it needs retirement.
Concerning the need for giving the names and citizenship certificates of three generations and one generation below, and the need for receipt of water or electricity bill, and finally drawing a map of access to the home of a customer on the back of the last page of the forms, I quickly found out that these formalities were all the fantasia of the current governor of the central Bank of Nepal called Nepal Rastra Bank.
The current governor is Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada. I did a little research on Dr. Khatiwada, too. One of the most corrupt Prime Ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal of CPN-UML had appointed Dr. Khatiwada to the office of the chairman of the National Planning Commission. After a few months, Dr. Khatiwada pleaded Madhav Nepal to appoint him to the governor of the central bank of Nepal.
I asked my informant why Dr. Khatiwada wanted to move away from the prestigious position of the chairman of the National Planning Commission. The reply was that probably, Dr. Khatiwada has a fake certificate of doctorate. So, he chose the safest position in the central bank to keep his fake certificate hidden from the reporters. He also told me that he has designed such a complicated format for the most of the illiterate Nepalis to fill out the most complicated forms for opening bank accounts in Nepal because none with fake name or fake citizenship certificate could open a bank account; so he added the electricity and water bill that could not be faked needed to include in the forms. Dr. Khatiwada did not include the telephone bills as the private companies might fake their bills as his certificate of doctorate. If the certificate of Dr. Khatiwada is not fake then he would soon simplify the forms of opening an account in any bank in Nepal otherwise Nepalis have to live with the current complicated forms of opening bank accounts as designed by Dr. Khatiwada: most probably the man with a fake certificate. Let us see what happens.
