Since when taking payments is problem!

Monday, 8 January 2007, 12:18 p.m.

Dharamshala: Debit what comes in. Credit what goes out–if only the financial transactions were that simple, especially when it came to those Tibetans who are not only shy of making payments, but also of receiving payments.

Ask Finance Department and it tells you that barely some months ago, the Department went all out against those who have still not repaid the loans taken from the Administration (see article).

And now, in a topsy-turvy shift, the Department is going all out after those from whom the Administration itself has taken loans, but are yet to be settled.

In the 1980s, the Administration took loans from the people and invested them in various business ventures ranging from small-scale industries to hotels and emporiums.

A change in financial policy came during the last Kashag.

The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile also joined forces with the Kashag’s proposal of privatisation of business units and clearance of all public debts.

A series of notices were disseminated in the Tibetan circles across the globe, advising all those who had deposits in the Administration to withdraw them within a specified time limit.

Many did–but not all.

The Department then issued a stern notice in June 2006, declaring that if people failed to withdraw their deposits within one month, their deposits would be viewed as of “absence of owners”.

Again, not all people showed up. And some 1.6 million rupees of total 17 people are still left with the Administration.

With special considerations of the Kashag, the Department has now issued one more “last notice”, in which it has extended the closing date for withdrawal to this March end.

“If people still fail to withdraw before this closing date, the Administration will have no alternative but to take possession of these funds as in “absence of owners”, says Kesang Phuntsok, deputy secretary of the Department.

When asked if the Department has verified the current status of these people, whether they are alive, Mr Phuntsok said, “barring two three people, we have been able to locate most of them.”

The latest notice shows the 17 people as being settled in India, Switzerland and the United States.