To ensure that donation drives and crowdfunding are genuine, the department of law and order has now put in place certain requirements. Henceforth, the department will create a new bank account for individuals or organizations seeking donations or crowdfunding. And once the approved amount is raised, the department, in coordination with the Royal Monetary Authority, will restrict any further deposits into the account.
Officials from the department said through the interventions, the department wants to ensure that donation drives and crowdfunding are not misused for personal gains or cause an unnecessary financial burden on society.
“Under the MoHCA’s approval, we will give them few amount for personal expenditure but otherwise all the treatment payments will be done through banking channels through a formal means, so that the amount raised through donation is not actually going to the personal account number of the proposal. And the chances of misuse can be avoided,” said Karma Dorji, the Officiating Director for the Department of Law and Order under the Ministry Home and Cultural Affairs.
Besides, an individual or organization needs written approval from the department to start a donation drive or crowdfunding.
Recently, a woman allegedly organized a fake donation drive on Facebook.
“It started on the midnight of September 18 and went until the next day. She was able to raise about Nu 112,000. As soon as we knew about it, we immediately in coordination with Royal Monetary Authority, restricted the withdrawal and deposits from that account. And immediately reported this matter to the Royal Bhutan Police,” the Officiating Director added.
Currently, there are three proposals with the department awaiting approval. One of them is to raise the medical expenses to treat a person with spinal cord injury. The rest are for funding creative and social cause works.
Tshering Zam
Edited by Sonam Wangdi
