By Nagendra Sapkota, Lalitpur, Feb.20: It has become easy for Bal Bahadur Ghale, a single man from Pyutar of Bagmati Rural Municipality-4, Lalitpur to manage his daily life with the single man allowance provided by the Rural Municipality.

As the 63 old man Ghale, lacks any other income source so he is feeling relieved from the one thousand monthly allowance given by the rural municipality.

The daily necessity of basic utilities like salt, oil and tea is well fulfilled by the single man allowance said Ghale, who lost his wife 19 years ago.

Ghale, who has a son and a daughter, is living alone after marrying off his daughter as she shifted to a new place and is out of contact after that. Whereas, the location of his son is still not located.

Likewise, Hari Bahadur Sinjali, who is also a single man from Bhattedada village of same Rural Municipality-3 expressed that he has breathed a sigh of relief after receiving the monthly single man allowance.

A 69 year old elderly Sinjali said that he lost his wife some years ago and no child of his has been born.

 "The monthly single man allowance is proving to be a boon for me as I can fulfill my basic necessities from it. This step will definitely support all single man" said Sinjali.

A total of 50 single men have received single man allowance within two years.

The single man allowance was initiated by the rural municipality two years ago.

The rural municipality distributes single man allowance to single man within 60-70 age groups.

As one can receive old age allowance after 70 so the rural municipality has been providing single man allowance by fixing the age limit by making provision for not getting double provision.

 Bir Bahadur Lopchan, Chairman of the Rural Municipality said, “The situation of the aged single man and woman is much more volatile than the aged people living with family so the rural municipality has initiated this provision by making working procedure.”

However, it is mandatory to show the death certificate of the spouse or divorce certificate to receive the single man allowance.

It is mentioned in the working procedure of the Bagmati Rural Municipality Single Man's Allowance that the person receiving the pension of the Government of Nepal, the person receiving monthly salary allowance and other benefits from the national and international level organizations does not qualify for single man allowance.

The two thousand allowance as a social security is being provided to single woman by the federal government, however, there is no such provision for single man so the rural municipality initiated this step to give assistance to single man, said Chairman Lopchan.