BANEPA, April 1: The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has warned most of the local units of Kavre district not to offer more pay and perks to the elected representatives and government officials than what has been determined by the law. Not just that, the OAG even directed the local units of returning the money, which was rampantly distributed as their salaries, allowances and treatment expenses.
In the Fiscal Year 2017/18, Kavre district spent Rs 64 million on allowances for the representatives and officials.
Road connectivity: First priority of local units
Meanwhile, Banepa Municipality, which is the first and the oldest municipality of the district, has directed its officials and members to return the amount they received against the law. As per the report provided to the municipality by the OAG, the local units are spending haphazardly on their uniform, salaries and allowances by breaching the law.
As per the report, the municipality must recover Rs 2.1 million that was distributed to the mayor, deputy mayor and ward chief as well as ward members for uniform, treatment cost of two ward chiefs and three ward members. As mentioned in the report, Banepa has spent Rs 17 million from its internal source for the special allowances of its officials. In the past, Banepa struggled to pay its officials in lack of enough internal resources.
Similarly, Dhulikhel Municipality has also directed its local units to return Rs 427,000, which was distributed against the law for the uniform of the officials. Likewise, the report states that Panauti Municipality spent Rs 8.4 million for facilitating the elected representatives in the Fiscal Year 2017/18. The report shows that the local unit spent additional Rs 700,000 each month.
According to the report, Namobuddha Municipality did not distribute the salaries and perks of the people's representatives in the Fiscal Year 2017/18 as it had not yet formulated its policies. However, it spent Rs 336,600 on the allowances of 23 representatives for attending 18 municipal meetings.
Furthermore, Mandandeupur Municipality, Roshi, Bhumlu, Temal, Khanikhola and Chauradeurali rural municipalities have also been instructed to recover the amount which was excessively used on the salaries and allowances of the representatives and officials by breaching the law.
