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Parties ‘gobble up’ Sarlahi dev budget
SARLAHI, JUN 07 -
With less than a month remaining for the current fiscal year to end, the District Development Committee (DDC), Sarlahi, is yet to utilise a large chunk of the development budget.
The DDC, however, is working swiftly to make its ledger look impressive and avoid a budget freeze even if that meant spending Rs. 40 million for various development plans through political parties.
Although the political parties have around 20 days to spend the budget in development work, they seem confident enough to complete the job on time.
The big political parties, including the UCPN (Maoist), Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, have taken the responsibility of spending 70 percent of the 40 million budget, while the fringe parties like the Dalit Janajati Party, Janata Dal and the Rastriya Ekata Party have agreed to take care of the remaining 30 percent.
It is impossible for the parties to complete the projects within a short period of one month, but their goal is to spend the amount that could freeze if not put to use before the fiscal year ends.
“We shall see how much could be accomplished,” said Local Development Officer Dilip Chapagain.
A large percentage of the spending is focused on road construction that usually takes months to complete. On top of that, monsoon is around the corner, which is not an opportune season for building roads. However, the parties insist that the roads will be constructed within a month.
“We shall use machines to complete the project on time,” said Ashok Yadav, district chair of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.
Sarlahi residents have accused the DDC and the political parties of trying to gobble up the budget in the name of development work. A staffer at the DDC also concurred that a plan is underway to expend the budget in a very short time. “I’m myself amazed how the projects that are yet to convene will complete within this fiscal year.”
Balkrishna Karna, district chairman of Nepal Bar Association, claimed that a large amount of development budget is spent without utilising it for development work every year and that the DDC’s spending of Rs. 40 million will also yield no result. “With very little time in hand, there is no way the development work will complete. This is absolute corruption, nothing else,” he said.
Posted on: 2010-06-08 07:42
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