Lack of transparency slur in civic body

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, September 11

About 50 per cent of the budget allocated for the garbage and environment purposes in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City is complained of avoiding transparency.

Rs 340 million, which accounts nearly 40 per cent of the KMC budget, was allocated to the Environment Management Division (EMD) under the civic body in the last fiscal year (2065/66), according to the KMC. Similarly, Rs 310 million was allocated in the previous fiscal (2064/65). Among them, some Rs 130 million was used to pay 1,300 staff of the division. Among them, they are 900 sweepers, and 400 others including police, mechanics, administrative staff and gardeners.

Nearly 50 per cent is misused under the different heads neglecting the principle of transparency, said account officer Nava Raj Dhakal at the Revenue Division of the KMC. "Although the documents are prepared in formal formats, the forgery might be rampant behind the scenes," Dhakal added.

Dr Sumitra Amatya, general manager at the Solid Waste Management and Resource Mobilisation Centre under the Ministry of Local Development, said that transparency was neither in the centre nor in the EMD. "There must be transparency in the democracy," she added.

Buddha Ratna Manandhar, chief at the Budget and Account Division, said that some Rs 200 million was used for salaries, fuel, vehicles, environment, greenery, landfill site maintenance, community expenses, park construction and conservation, training and seminars. "A total of allocated budget in the fiscal can be additionally spent," he said.

"We provide the big sum of amount on the basis of proposal and break-down details by approving phase-wise from the KMC board," said Manandhar. "However, the authority to distribute a small amount of budget up to Rs 35,000 is given to division head. Besides, a small portion of amount is given to some local clubs without any records on their pressure," he said. "The amount is limited between Rs 5,000 to 10,000."

Dhakal said that there would be immoral agreement of commission between the KMC official and locals. "It is provided up to Rs 1 million to a club," he claimed.

According to the KMC, it issues total allocated budget to the EMD and but does not keep detail breakdown records of the supporting documents. "We send auditors to audit them but don't question on their documents," said Manandhar. "In this sense, there is no transparency," he admitted.

Manandhar said that there was no mandatory of bills and vouchers for the assistance and aids given to any parties. "But this amount will not be bigger," he added. "However, the division should present here for the final approval."

Rabin Man Shrestha, chief of the EMD said that there was clear transparency in the budget. "It was only blame for the sake of blame. Everybody can come and see the bills and documents of the expenses directly," said Shrestha. "Rs 45 million is spent annually on fuel alone for 100 vehicles per year while Rs 20 million is spent on mechanics," he added.

This is only the formality and the KMC is obliged to issue payment on the basis of ready-made documents, said Dhakal. "The transparency lacks in the crisis management. On the other hand, local people, NGOs and clubs are also spending nearly Rs 150 million from their own efforts of collection in the local level, which is helping the garbage management but not included in the KMC project," he explained.