Fearing the discrimination the children would face in society, the parents had changed the dalit surnames of their children.
But now, their decision has backfired as the dalit children whose surnames have been altered are finding it difficult to claim the nutrition allowance provided by the government.
All traditional Dalit surnames are listed by the National Dalit Commission but the new surnames are creating confusion among the local body officials while doling out the allowance. Most of the Dalit parents in the district have changed their children´s surnames to Nepali, Sonkhar, Kebali, Bata and Bitalu among others.
Bachi Khatik, of Samsherganj-7, who changed her two sons´ surname to Sonkhar, complained that she could not claim the allowance provided by the government to her children.
Agni Prasad Acharya, the VDC secretary of Samsherganj, said that they have been directed by the Ministry of Local Development to to provide the allowance only to those Dalit children whose surnames are enlisted in the National Dalit Commission list.
"Last year we provided Rs 28,000 as allowance to some Dalit children even if their surnames were not in the list. But later, the ministry refuse to approve the allowance and we had to pay it our own pocket," Acharya informed.
Ammar Raj Khatri, VDC secretary in Kohalpur, also said that some dalit children have not been able to claim the nutrition allowance as their surnames are in the list provided by the National Dalit Commission list.
"We know that their parents are dalit but we are compelled to withold the allowance," Khatri said. Local Development Officer Gyanendra Prasad Dhakal, however, said that he has not received any such complaint. "I have not heard any such problems. If there is any, we will write to the ministry to sort it out," Dhakal added.
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