KATHMANDU, June 6: The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has pointed out that the budget allocated for the Constituency Development Programme (CDP) was being diverted to programmes other than those mentioned in the guidelines.
Government started providing Rs 10 million to each directly elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the CDP since 2071/072 BS. The amount was hiked to Rs 10.5 million in 2072/073.
With the two-fold increment in the Programme in the newly unveiled budget estimates for 2073/074, the budget for the CDP has reached Rs 30 million.
OAG Spokesperson Baburam Gautam told RSS that in many districts, the CDP budget was not spent in specific programmes as mentioned in the guidelines. The budget was being spent waywardly.
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"The guidelines strictly bars the allocation of the budget to political parties' sister organizations, academies and institutions run in the name of politicians and non-governmental organizations but it has been overlooked in many districts," OAG spokesperson Gautam shared.
The annual report on the CDP indicates that the MPs select many projects for their constituency but seldom accomplishe them as well as the report shows that many undertakings such as distribution of bicycles, sewing machines and computers were being launched under the CDP as against the guidelines.
According to Gautam, many of the bills for reimbursement reach the OAG towards the end of the fiscal year .i.e. by mid July.
Furthermore, the guideline dictates that the budget could not be spend for the project worth below Rs 1 million but Gautam states that the budget was spent over various programmes launched by the Academies set up in the name of Nepali Congress, in Lalitpur, in the Academy set up in the name of CPN (UML) in Dolkha district and in Gorkha, in the Academy established after the name of UCPN (Maoist) leaders.
In the outset of the launching of the CDP in 2053/054, the budget allocation for the porgramme stood at Rs 300,000.
According to the previous guidelines, the MPs ought to spend the budget in his/her constituency. Likewise, members of the Upper House could spend the budget in any constituency in their districts. RSS
