Donors likely to downsize assistance to local bodies

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, July 17



The fate of a country-wide development programme appears to hang in a balance as donors sound out plans to review their commitment, unhappy about irregularities and mismanagement of the funds in the absence of elected local bodies.



Donors supporting the Local Governance and Community Development Programme (LGCDP) have indicated that they would slash their fund citing lack of accountability and fiduciary risk management in the local bodies, according to Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) sources.


The development partners have not been satisfied with the governance system in the local bodies and have raised serious concerns about the misuse of development funds, sources said. "They have been demanding a sound mechanism, including fiduciary risk management, and an accountable body to check irregularities in the local bodies," MoFALD officials said.


They have committed to provide only about US$ 100 million till date for the second phase when the government has planned to bring some US$ 1300 million programme that the government will contribute US$ 1058 million and remaining about US$ 300M by donors. "The donors have assured us that they will assist three times bigger amount if the local elections are held," said Puroshottam Nepal, programme coordinator of the LGCDP at the MoFALD.



LGCDP, originally conceived between July 2008-January 2009, was re-designed into a four-year programme supported by a host of development partners comprising several European countries, the World Bank and the UN System in Nepal. The first phase of LGCDP concluded on July 15, 2012 and no cost tenure was extended till July 15, 2013 in order to prepare policies and programmes for the second phase and sign agreement. The second phase was supposed to start on July 16 to July 15, 2017.



The joint financing agreement with the development partners is yet to be signed. As on date, LGCDP runs into its second phase unofficially, said ministry sources as they looked forward to the signing of renewal agreement for the remaining period.

"The government is negotiating with donors and is in process of signing a renewal agreement," Local Development Secretary Shanta Bahadur Shrestha told The Himalayan Times.

However, programme coordinator of LGCDP Purushottam Nepal sounded more optimistic about the future of the second phase programme. "A draft agreement has been prepared and it will be signed by August," he said.


"The size of budget from the development partners may decrease this time due to absence of elected representatives in the local bodies," ministry sources said. The local bodies elections were held last time 16 years ago.


The total budget comprising of government of Nepal US$ 260.8 million (Block Grant Allocation to LBs) and donors commitment US$ 161.5 million was planned to invest in the first phase of the LGCDP. The development partners include Asian Development Bank, DANIDA, DFID, UN System (UNDP, UNICEF, UNCDF, UNFPA, UNV etc.), Government of Norway, Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), GIZ, JICA, World Bank and Government of Finland.
However, the donors did not provide all the committed assistance of the first phase for the local bodies, citing irregularities in the local bodies, according to the MoFALD sources.

Out of about Rs 45 billion budget allocated for the MoFALD annually, development partners contribute about Rs 15 billion for 75 districts, 3,915 village development committees and 58 municipalities across the country.

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Ex-minister 'doled out money' to cadres

Narayan Kaji Shrestha gave away development funds

BISHNU PRASAD ARYAL

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development has been found to have violated the rules, with the direct involvement of the former local development minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, by distributing development funds among those close to his party.

According to the MoFALD, Rs 500 million of people’s participatory programme of the current fiscal year was distributed for 723 projects under the direct supervision of local development minister in the current fiscal year. Of the total budget of PPP of Rs 500 million, MoFALD contributes Rs 200 million while the rest is covered by the Ministry of Finance.

It has been revealed that former deputy prime minister and local development minister Shrestha distributed the development funds among UCPN-M cadres, in the name of constructing martyrs’ memorial buildings and parks, according to sources at the MoFALD. The Cabinet that had Shrestha as minister was replaced by the Khil Raj Regmi-led Cabinet on March 14. As per the rules, the minister can distribute up to Rs 500 million of PPP through the plans approved by district development committees. However, the funds were distributed arbitrarily among those who approached Shrestha personally, in violation of the existing rules, high ranking MoFALD officials told this daily requesting anonymity.

Regular irregularities
• Gaurishankar Khadka Smriti Pratisthan, Jhapa, Rs 500,000
• Jaya Gobind Sah Smriti Pustakalya, Mahottari, Rs 1,500,000
• Sahid Pratisthan, Rasuwa, Rs 100,000
• Sahid Smriti Bhawan, Bidur, Rs 100,000
• Sahid Smriti Sanchar, Dhading, Rs 500,000
• Shahid Pratisthan Nepal Shakha, Rolpa, Rs 2,500,000
• Different youth clubs in Ropla, Rs 4,000,000
• Siddha Tirtha Smriti Bhawan and Park, Kavre Rs 500,000
• Sahid Smriti Park, Jipupipal, Rukum, Rs 500,000
• Sahid Smriti Park, Kankridobhan, Rukum, Rs 500,000
• Sahid Smriti Park, Pyuthan, Rs 500,000

Rs 500 million of PPP can be given only for development activities of public concerns. As per the rules, such programmes are generally selected through DDCs on the basis of recommendations from other line ministries and the National Planning Commission. Memorandums submitted to high ranking officials after their field visits also need to be taken into consideration. “But the programmes were directly selected by then minister Shrestha in January-February,” the officials said. The government provides funds to national institutions such as Ganesh Man Singh Memorial Academy, Manmohan Singh Memorial Academy and Krishna Sen Ichchhuk Memorial Academy. But the development funds cannot be given to cadres of certain political parties. “We have been told that the funds allocated to different organisations were given to construct office buildings of a political party and to the cadres on one pretext or the other,” the officials added.

MoFALD Spokesperson Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, said that the budget from the central level can be spent only on activities related to public infrastructure development and social development. “We will monitor them and will take necessary action if they are found illegal,” Thapaliya said in a style typical of bureaucracy.

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Govt shifting development grant focus to Tarai

 • Plans to slash funds given to hill and mountain regions • Experts call it an irrational move

BISHNU PRASAD ARYAL

Fast facts • Tarai belt constitutes a little more than half of the total population of the country (50.2 per cent) • Hill and mountain belts constitute about 42.8 per cent and seven per cent of the total population‚ respectively • The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development gets Rs 45 billion every year • As per the rule‚ each of the 3‚913 village development committees get Rs 1.5 million to Rs 3 million as grants • Each of the 75 district development committees get grants on the basis of performance • New rule says performance-based grants to the local bodies will be reduced‚ implying that each VDC will get only Rs 1.5 million and each DDC Rs 4 million

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development is planning to cut development grants given to the hills to provide the same to the Tarai region.

According to the national census 2011, the Tarai belt, smaller in area, constitutes more than half of the total population of the country (50.2 per cent) followed by the hill and mountain belts that constitute about 42.8 per cent and seven per cent of the total population, respectively.

“The remote hill and Himalayan regions, where poverty-stricken, marginalised and underprivileged people live, will be affected if the government’s plan to slash development grants is implemented,” said Dinesh Chandra Devkota, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission. “It will be an irrational move as marginalised people living in hills like Karnali region will be affected.”

The ministry is preparing to change the rules provisioned in the Local Bodies Resource Mobilisation and Management Guideline 2069 BS under the influence of minister for local development, Madhes-based parties and Unified CPN-Maoist, confidential sources at the ministry told The Himalayan Times. “This is a plan to spend more development budget in Tarai by cutting grants given to the hilly and Himalayan regions,” they said. “The government is planning to include this programme in the coming fiscal budget and programmes are being prepared for the coming year.”

THT’s repeated attempts to contact Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development Bidhyadhar Mallik went in vain. He neither picked up his phone nor responded to emails.

The government allocates about Rs 45 billion for the MoFALD every year. Of the total allocation, about 70 per cent is spent on development activities and people-oriented programmes while rest is set aside for administrative purposes, according to the MoFALD.

Development grants are allocated as per provisions enshrined in the rules and regulations. Highly placed sources at the ministry told this daily that the plan was being chalked out with more focus on Tarai region in the name of population distribution.

Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, Spokesperson for the MoFALD, conceded that the ministry was working to amend the rules. “This rule can be revised every two years,” Thapaliya said. “We can concentrate on densely populated areas while distributing grants,” he added.

The proposed plan will revise the existing system and send more budget to Tarai-based districts. Out of the total allocated capital expenditure, 50 per cent will be distributed on the basis of formula-based grants and remaining as per minimum conditions grants, according to the Local Bodies Fiscal Commission Secretariat.

Each of the 3,913 village development committees used to get Rs 1.5 million to Rs 3 million as grants while each of the 75 district development committees used to get grants on the basis of performance.

The performance-based grants to the local bodies will be reduced as per the new rule, which means each VDC will get only Rs 1.5 million and each DDC Rs 4 million.

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Pashupati heritage pressed to donate land to NGOs

Culture Minister recommends PADT to distribute its land to NGOs


PADT officials object the proposal and decide to get approval from its committee

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, May 29

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ram Kumar Shrestha has recommended the Pashupati Area Development Trust to provide the land of heritage site to the NGOs.

According to the PADT sources, Minister Shrestha recommended the PADT in written to provide about three ropanies of land to the private organisations. A meeting of the PADT Council chaired by Minister Shrestha was held yesterday to discuss on the issues.

Gajendra Narayan Singh Memorial Academy chaired by former minister Anil Kumar Jha and Bal Sarathi chaired by social worker Mala Kharel asked Minister Shrestha to provide two ropanies of land owned by the PADT at Gothatar of Kathmandu and nearly one ropani of the PADT land at Tilganga respectively.

The issues were tabled yesterday at the PADT council meeting held first time at the PADT premises after Minister Shrestha was appointed. Minister Shrestha was appointed in the cabinet in the recommendation of Pulshpa Kamal Dahal-led Maoist Party.

"However, the proposal was rejected in the meeting terming it as illegal," said the PADT officials. "We proposed to forward such proposals through the regular meeting of the PADT executive committee," they said.

Minister Shrestha might have personally recommended the PADT to provide its property to the NGOs, said the officials at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. "We are officially unknown about it," said Jaya Ram Shrestha, chief of Culture and Heritage Section at the ministry.
Sushil Nahata, member-secretary at the PADT said that seven agendas were discussed on the PADT council. "However, they are yet to be approved," he said. "The state property cannot be given to any private organisation."

According to the PADT, the agendas discussed during the meeting are land issues recommended by Culture Minister, making Bagmati pollution free river, contract review of PADT land leased to then Hawai Sewa Bibhag (presently Civil Aviation Authority), providing a piece of land site to Madan Bhatta whose land was pooled during the PADT Master Plan, waiving interest and cost of land given to poors in place of pooled land and widening road at the PADT area.

Gargi Gurukul Pratisthan, chaired by Prof Angur Baba Joshi, also proposed to provide 25 ropanies of the PADT land at Gothatar of Kathmandu on lease. Pratisthan serves educating girls and women on Sanskrit and Hindu culture. "We decided to provide a building to the organisation at Gaurighat to run a school until it makes its own building," said Narottam Vaidya, treasurer at the PADT.

Vaidya further said that the PADT has also decided to amend PADT regulation regarding gratuity for retired caretakers, manage directives for priests and caretakers of the Pashupatinath Temple and effective management of auditing accounts.

The pagoda style Pashupatinath Temple, which is believed to be more than 2,500 years old, is enlisted in the UNECSO World Heritage Site.

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Bad governance continues unabated in local bodies

Political parties major elements of fiduciary risk; MoLD to issue warning letters soon

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Lalitpur, November 5

About Rs 45 billion is allocated for the local bodies every year but the budget is widely misused in the involvement of the political parties.

A government official belonging to an union said that only 30 per cent budget allocated for development is properly utilised in the local bodies. "Some 70 per cent is misused in the involvement of political parties by preparing fake documents of development activities," he claimed.

Dr jagadish Chandra Pokhrel, former Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission, also said that the political parties were involved in distributing development budget equally in many districts. "Political parties have captured the tenders in local bodies. This chaos is very serious problem, which should be immediately addressed from national level with political debate," he said. "The governments are centralised but local governance is falling down and down," he added.

The Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) assesses the performance and development activities of about 25 District Development Committees (DDC) every year. The MoLD has recently monitored 20 DDCs in the current fiscal year. Among them, the ministry has received reports of 16 districts--Gorkha, Lamjung, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Rautahat, Dang, Dailekh, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sunsari, Jhapa, Gulmi, Rupandehi, Syangja and Baglung, according to the MoLD. The reports of four districts--Makwanpur, Lalitpur, Dhading and Sankhuwasabha are yet to be compiled.

The violations of rules and regulations, and bad governance are rampant in the majority of districts, said the members of the monitoring teams. "Only Some districts such as Makwanpur have better improved the performance," said Rishi Raj Acharya, chief at the Monitoring and Evaluation Section, MoLD.

There are 75 DDCs and 99 municipalities including 41 newly declared but unauthorised municipals and about 3,770 village development committees across the country. The government has allocated about Rs 45 billion including some Rs 15 billion foreign aids for the local bodies.

The monitoring reports revealed that the misuse of development funds, rampant distribution of budget under pressure of political parties, violation of Local Self-Governance Act--2055BS, unethical selection of plans and implementation and poor auditing system.

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Local election a must to check misuse of devt funds

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
KATHMANDU: July 2
The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) has rejected the proposal of the Ministry of Local Development that seeks to restructure the political mechanism at the local bodies on the basis of votes that political parties bagged in the Constituent Assembly elections. 

The NC was responding to the ministry’s call for suggestions from 30 political parties represented in the CA on whether to go for fresh elections or revamp the mechanism on the basis of CA votes. The deadline to offer suggestions expires on July 9.

The ministry is set to table the proposal to the cabinet, stressing restructuring of the political mechanism in all 75 district development committees (DDCs), 58 municipalities and 3,915 village development committees (VDCs) on the basis of CA votes, presenting fresh elections as an option, according to ministry secretary Sushil Ghimire. 

NC Vice-President Ram Chandra Paudel said the revamping of the political mechanism on the basis of CA votes is not acceptable as the votes will not mean much once the CA’s term expires on August 31. 

“There is rampant corruption in local bodies and misuse of development funds. The only solution is holding local body elections as soon as possible,” Paudel argued at a meeting with Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal today after submitting a report on the proposal to Khanal.

“We are also for holding local body elections as per Article 139 (1) of the Interim Constitution,” said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the ministry. 

“If the government is not ready to hold elections, an interim local body mechanism should be formed to regulate the activities of local bodies till next local elections,” he said. 

“We should either go for election or form a new mechanism to check massive misuse of development funds in local bodies,” Thapaliya reasoned.

After the abolition of monarchy, five major political parties had decided to nominate their representatives in local bodies in the absence of elected representatives. 

The civic bodies have been running without elected representatives for about nine years.

If the ministry has its way, the revamped mechanism will have one representative each for 3 per cent of CA votes with a catch that a political party cannot claim more than 50 percent of total seats in each mechanism. 

The proposal has proposed five representatives in each VDC and seven 

in each DDC and municipality. “Moreover, the executive coordinator or the deputy must be a woman and other members should be selected so as to make the body inclusive,” Thapaliya said.

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Govt intending to distribute Rs 900M to political cadres

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, June 9

The Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW) under political pressure has created new development plans of Rs 900 million at the end of the fiscal year intending to distribute the amount to the cadres of the ruling political parties.

The MoPPW created new 393 road plans of Rs 220 million about a month ago under 249 of the Budget Book at the end of the fiscal year. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the National Planning Commission have already approved the plans, according to the MoPPW.

The plans of Rs 220 are said to be approved under the pressure from MoPPW Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi. Of Rs 220, some 35 per cent will go for Rayamajhi's district Arghakhachi and about 20 per cent for Law Minister Prabhu Sah's district Rautahat while remaining portion for other districts, the government officials requesting anonymity told exclusively. Both Rayamajhi and Sah are from UCPN-Maoist party.

Following the first step, the cadres of the ruling parties--UCPN-Maoist, CPN-UML, CPN-ML, Madheshi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal among others demanded the MoPPW to create similar new programmes of Rs 680 million. The MoPPW approved these programmes and sent to the MoF and NPC for approval two weeks ago. "It will take about two weeks for approval. "How will the allocated budget be properly implemented in last two weeks of the fiscal year?" the officials wondered.

The government allocated Rs 500 million for about 3,000 road programmes under 249 of the regular budget programme for the fiscal year. The budget allocation varies from Rs 50,000 to Rs 300,000 to each of such plans. If such a road project links two districts, up to Rs 2 million is allocate for one programme.

The government officials are skeptical over the implementation of the new budget allocated in the last hour in development activities. "The regular budget allocated for the current fiscal year is unlikely to be spent more than 80 per cent. So the new budget is impossible to be implemented in time and more likely to be misused by the political cadres," they said.

KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has been preparing to transfer the budget of a development region to another region against the fiscal budget speech. Rs 60.7 million allocated for road development in the Far-West Development Region and an unknown amount of Mid-West Development Region are being transferred to other regions, said MoPPW officials. "The MoF did not provide additional budget for well undergoing projects as in the past years despite its commitment owing to low revenue collection and government plan to allocate unused budget for energy bank," they said. --

A meeting of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on June 7 directed the MoPPW and the MoF not to transfer balance of payment to the smaller projects except national priority P1 and natural disaster rescue programmes. It also ordered the government not to release any budget to the NGOs in the remaining period of the current fiscal year.

NPC Vice-Chairman Dr Dinesh Chandra Devkota said that the NPC approved the MoPPW programmes of Rs 220 about a month ago thinking the programmes of new government. "The government can allocate additional budget up to 10 per cent of the total national budget," he said. "We approve only programmes. The MoF and MoPPW are responsible for budget implementation. I cannot say how they allocate the budget," he added.

"There is no chance of approval of the remaining programme of Rs 680 million following the PAC direction," said Devkota. "We will discourage ill-intentions."

Minister Rayamanjhi, who is in Gulmi district visit now, said on phone that the projects of Rs 220 were already started and going on. "The government is yet to approve Rs 680 million. We will monitor and not let them misuse the development funds," he claimed.

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National coffer bleeding from foreign trips of ministers

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, June 15

A comparison between the foreign visits of present jumbo cabinet led-by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal in a year and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’-led smaller cabinet in nine months shows that the government ministers don’t care about emptying national coffer.

According to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM), there are 43 members including PM, ministers, assistant and state ministers in the present cabinet while the Maoist-led government comprised of 24 ministers. The cabinet decisions reveal that the present cabinet ministers visited foreign countries 133 times from May 2009 to April 2010 and the Maoist-led ministers visited foreign countries 92 times from August 2008 to April 2009.

A record of the Finance Section at the OPMCM shows about Rs 4.45 million is spent on salaries for the present 43-member cabinet every month. The PM receives 306 litres of fuel; a minister gets 207 litres and a state minister is provided 180 litres per month. They are paid in cash instead of fuel.

Dhruba Prasad Sharma, secretary at the OPMCM, said that the expenses for each foreign visit varied on as per the size of the team, distance and number of days. A minister gets an allowance of US$ 200 every day excluding the bills of travel, food, treatment and accommodation, said Sharma.

Rs 1.2 million was spent on a minor treatment visit of Deputy Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar to Singapore a few months ago. This ratio indicates a huge amount of national coffer is spent on the foreign visits.

The highest scorer in foreign visits stands then foreign minister Upendra Yadav with a total visits by 15 times in nine months. Another Maoist cabinet-member Ganesh Shah visited nine times while PM Prachanda six times; Ministers for Agriculture and Cooperatives, and Local Development six times each; Tourism and Civil Aviation five times; Health and Population, Culture and State Restructuring, Finance, Labour and Transport Management, Commerce and Supplies, General Administration and Education respectively four times each.

Other Maoist cabinet members include Information and Communication, Physical Planning and Works and Water resources for three times each; Youth and Sports, and Law, Justice and CA Affairs for two times each. Similarly, Ministers for Defence, Industry, Home Affairs, and Forestry and Land Conversation once each.

Similarly, present cabinet decisions include PM Nepal for four times; Agriculture and Cooperatives 11 times; Labour and Transport Management, and Foreign Affairs eight times each; Tourism and Civil Aviation, Energy, and Finance seven times each; Education, Forestry and Land Conservation, Home Affairs, Environment, and Federal Affairs, Constituent Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture six times each; Health and Population, Information and Communication, General Administration, Commerce and Supplies, Physical Planning and Works, and Youth and Sports five times each.

The Ministers for Industry and Local Development got four opportunities each; Ministries of Law and Justice, Peace and State Restructuring three times each while Ministers for Defence, Science and Technology, and Women, Children and Social Welfare two times each, and Minister for Without Portfolio one time.

The innumerable visits of parliamentarians, government officials including secretaries and head of other bodies outnumber the ministerial visits. If the achievement from the visits is counted, it is disappointing, conclude the senior government officials.

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Land-mafias using power centres to grab govt land

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, June 11

The land-mafias have been eying the government land on the name of different organisations along with other land once the government acquisitioned by compensating the owners for the construction of roads.

According to the officials at the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works (MoPPW), a number of land mafias have tabled the files for withdrawing the land once they got compensation on the mutual understanding. They have now claimed that the compensation paid to the owners was very low compared to the real price of land.

The MoPPW acquisitioned a plot of land nearby Birtamod of Jhapa district in 1997. However, the mafias with recommendation from the Chief District Officer came to the ministry for withdrawing the land by proposing to return the government given compensation. Another mafia from Itahari in Sunsari district claimed the government land pooled 38 years ago by preparing fake documents belonging to the ownership.

The land mafias have also knocked the doors of the ministry to withdraw the land pooled for Banepa-Sindhuli section of BP Highway, said the senior officials at the MoPPW. The lands were acquisitioned compensating Rs 10,000 per ropani about a decade ago. However, the price of land went higher by manifolds now. “They have submitted the recommendations from CDO to withdraw the land,” the officials said in shocking mood.

The land was evaluated as per the price while they were compensated. Land-mafias are involved in vested interests due to the soaring price of land. They are trying to manipulate the political power centres to own the government land again, claiming that the land once pooled has remained useless.

The mafias are lured to have the land pooled to construct Ram Raja Bridge in Birgunj, which was built six years ago. The mafias were highly encouraged after the Maoist-led government provided 10 bighas of land to them in the name of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries in Nepalgunj.

“Now, the mafias in veil of different organisations are influencing the ministers to grab the land,” said MoPPW officials requesting anonymity. “There are bundles of such files piled in the Ministry. It is in mood to provide two bighas of land to the mafias through the Butwal municipality authority in Rupandehi district,” they revealed.

Just an instance, mafias are trying to grab some 50-60 ropanis of public land in Lalitpur in the name of an institute, said the sources. “It is reported that the mafias forced Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to recommend Deputy PM and Minister for Physical Planning and Works Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar to provide land for an organisation. But it is still undecided,” a source quoted as saying the mafia network.

The ministry officials are worried about the political influence encouraging the mafias by misusing the political transitional phase ongoing in the country. “If this trend continues, the bureaucracy alone will be helpless to block such malaises under the pressure from ministers,” said MoPPW senior officials. “The bureaucracy has rejected to okay such files till date.”

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Political parties forcing to practise non-existent law

Bishnu Prasad Aryal

Kathmandu, April 9

The political parties have still forced the District Development Committees to follow non-existent Panchyati law for misusing development founds for their vested interests.

The monitoring reports of the Ministry of Local Development recently assessed in 10 districts show that the budget has been allocated on ‘donation and financial assistance’ for the political parties, which is against the Local Self-Governance Act-2055BS.

“The political parties have forced the local bodies to allocate budget for them and their sister organisations in almost all districts, even Kathmandu,” said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the MoLD. “There is no such provision in law to assist any organisation or person with more than Rs 300, not exceeding a total of Rs 50,000. It was practised in Panchyat era prior to two decades to pacify their cadres. But political parties are still stuck to this unlawful tradition,” he told THT.

An instance in Rupandehi district

·        Rs 120,000 for Progressive Teachers’ Union

·        Rs 500,000 for construction of Nepal Trade Union Office

·        Rs 137,000 for Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi)

·        Rs 136,000 for CPN-UML

·        Rs 110,000 for Nepali Congress

·        Rs 89,000 for Madheshi Janasdhikar Forum

·        Rs 60,000 for UCPN-Maoist

·        Rs 53,000 for CPN (Unified)

·        Rs 25,000 for CPN-ML

·        Rs 25,000 for Janamorcha Nepal (Sherchan)

·        Rs 22,000 for Janamorcha Nepal

·        Rs 15,000 for Rastriya Janamorcha

·        Rs 12,000 for Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Mahato)

       ·        Rs 4,000 for CPN (Unified Marxist)

 The MoLD monitored whole performances including development activities and use of allocated funds in 10 districts--Morang, Ilam, Bara, Kaski, Rupandehi, Banke Surkhet, Dadeldhura, Kanchanpur and Rautahat. After the first phase, the monitoring is being carried out in other 10 districts. Five more districts will be scrutinised within the current fiscal.

There are 75 districts, 3,915 village development committees and 58 municipalities across the country. A total of Rs 42 billion including Rs 22 billion for development and Rs 20 billion on administrative expenses has been allocated for the local bodies this year.

Dhruba Bandhu Aryal, chief of Local Development Section at the National Planning Commission, said party share on budget, programmes and posts could be rampantly traced in the local bodies. “The voice of the people, who are needy, has not been heard even in the multiparty system,” said Aryal.

However, Dr Dinesh Chandra Devkota, acting Vice-Chairman, NPC, said they were officially ignorant about it. “The concerned ministry should take action on it. If we are reported, we will take action,” he added.

Thapaliya said the laws and regulations were not sincerely obeyed in the districts. “The ministry has given priority on productive sectors, inclusiveness, poverty reduction and completion of already started projects while implementing the allocated budget in the districts,” he said.

“However, it has not been focused on the issues and the political parties are interested in their own personal and vested interests,” said Thapaliya. “The development programmes are under grip of elite groups. There is lack of monitoring in the VDCs. The centre has also failed implementing laws well,” he added. “The local bodies are out of control thinking that they are autonomous bodies.”

Though the all-party mechanism has been formed in the districts in place of elected representatives, whose term was expired eight years ago, the mechanism is irresponsibly influencing Local Development Officers and engineers for vested party interests, said Thapaliya.

Nabindra Raj Joshi, Constituent Assembly member from the Nepali Congress, said law should not be violated at any cost. “However, programmes should be allotted on the basis of priority and necessity,” he said, indicating to provide reasonable support to the political parties.

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MoLD sitting on 18 CIAA graft verdicts on irregularities

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Lalitpur, March 25

Some 20 cases about irregularities and corruption grilled by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, which directed the Ministry of Local Development to take action effectively, are yet to be implemented even in five years.

According to the MoLD, the focal point meeting of the CIAA gave decisions on 20 cases on irregularities in the ministry and local bodies within last five years. The graft body ordered the ministry to implement decisions largely within three months of verdicts.

“However, the instructions of CIAA on 18 decisions are yet to be enforced,” said Suresh Ghimire, an official at the Human Resource and Internal Management Section of the MoLD. Ghimire, who is also former staff of the CIAA, further said, “Only two decisions were implemented in the ministry within last five years.”

The MoLD was directed to take departmental action including warning and sacking the culprit, recovery of embezzled funds, and suggestion to correct the activities in accordance line with laws. Among 20 decisions of CIAA, 12 belong to Kathmandu Metropolitan City alone, two in Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City, one each in Salyan District Development Committee, Sarlahi DDC, Darchula DDC and Mahottari.

Rs 1,528,800 and Rs 1,742,001 from Anak Construction and Santoshi Construction for embezzlement in Pokhara since 2004

Unaudited Rs 6,403,358 to be recovered from Hans Raj Bajracharya, contemporary ward chairman, KMC-8 since 2003

Rs 30,000 to be recovered from the salary of Er Suresh Harsha Bajracharya, KMC since 2006

Rs 54,000 from ward chairman Rajiv Joshi for embezzling advance budget to construct sewerage at Bakhundole, Jwagal, KMC since 2007

11 plots of public land encroach at Ranibari, KMC since 2007

Encroachment of some 12 ropanies of land at Bhimsengola, KMC-34 since 2008

Removal of huts built at public land in KMC-15

Uma Devi Shrestha of KMC-1 for encroaching road since 2008

KMC staff Ram Kumar Karki, in-charge of revenue collection at Thankot for embezzlement

Encroachment of public shelter-house at Bangemudha, KMC-28 since 2009

Misuse of planning budget in Salyan DDC since 2009

VDC secretary Nabal Kishor Shah for embezzling social security funds in Sarlahi since 2009

Misuse of DRILP project fund in Darchula against LDO Danda Pani Baral, Lalu Giri, Hira Lal Chaudhari, Bishnu Datta Bhatta, Keshav Raj Bhatta, Jayanti Bhatta. Only LDO Baral was taken action.

Sub Er Prabin Karki of Khalanga Range Post in Salyan for corruption

Shiva Ram Pandey and Ram Prasad Shah of Gaushala in Mahottari for embezzling Rs 1 million in Mahottari since 2008

Deepak Koirala, deputy executive chief at KMC, said that cases with Karki and encroachment of shelter-house at Bangemudha were just solved. “We have forwarded process for other cases,” he said. “Action became delay due to complexity in procedure,” he added.

Ghimire said taking action was difficult due to unrest in Tarai, intervention of political parties and obstruction from all-party political mechanism in the local bodies. “There are about 100 cases under scrutiny in the MoLD. They include 20 from CIAA, five from Office of Prime Minister and three from National Alertness Centre,” he said.

Bhavanath Khatiwada, officer looking into the CIAA cases at the MoLD, said that the process to take action was on. “We are working on to take action,” he added.

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Govt cracking down officials for misusing dev funds

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Lalitpur, March 17

Under pressure from several donors, the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) has begun to crack down on Local Development Officers (LDOs) in about 30 districts, owing to misuse of development funds and poor performances.

The Ministry action is coming into effect after the warning of donor agencies to stop assistance if the corruption continues in the local bodies. Some Rs 11 billion is supported annually by the donor agencies for the MoLD.

"The donor agencies have questioned on the use of development funds and mechanism to check corruption in local bodies," said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesperson for the MoLD. "The major donors have raised serious concern over the performances in the local bodies and warned us to end corruption for further assistance," he told THT.

The MoLD is taking action against half a dozen LDOs among 30 of them for involving in misuse of development funds in the districts. Unaudited budget in MoLD and 75 District Development Committees accounts to about Rs 2.72 billion, which is, according to the ministry, unlikely to be recovered as it was misused in any way.

There are 75 LDOs assigned in 75 DDCs across the country. The Civil Service Act provisions a transfer of a staff who serves two years in an office to another office. MoLD is transferring some 10 LDOs who served in a district for two years to other districts while about 20 LDOs who have served less than two years are also being transferred as an action.

Some transfers are regular while others are actions for their performances, said Prem Prakash Uprety, under-secretary at the MoLD. "However, there are various reasons behind the transfer of the LDOs," he said.

Engineer Shyam Sundar Mishra, acting LDO of Bara district has been suspended for the embezzlement of development funds by distributing recklessly while Umesh Basnet, former LDO of Bara is likely to be suspended for exempting about Rs 15 million of revenues to certain groups illegally, according to the MoLD sources. "Other few LDOs including of Rupandehi and Banke are also being taken similar action," Uprety said. "Number of such staff may increase upto half a dozen."

Some LDOs were found distributing district budgets to different political parties and their sister organisations. Those who are recorded with good performances have been transferred to the low performed districts to improve the situation. "The proper persons are being relocated in proper places," he added. "We will publicise details in a few days."

Some are transferred on the basis of biasness and political influence, said Lalit Basnet, who was assigned as LDO in Surkhet and now working in Sarlahi on task. "The Ministry of General Administration did not allow me to get transfer to Sarlahi," said Basnet.

However, Uprety said the ministry has given priority for transfer to those who are threatened or disabled and whose performance was monitored poor. "Some LDOs are being transferred on the basis of public complaints, personal demand of LDOs and while others charged on misuse of development funds," he said.

The MoLD recently carried out monitoring of 10 districts-Morang, Ilam, Rautahat, Bara, Kaski, Rupandehi, Banke Surkhet, Dadeldhura and Kanchanpur on the performances including development activities and use of allocated funds. Similarly, the Ministry is monitoring other ten districts on the second phase. Those districts are Saptari, Panchthar, Parsa, Kathmandu, Tanahu, Kapilvastu, Dang, Dailekh, Kailali and Darchula.

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