Koshi Province Public Accounts Committee Discusses Policy Corruption and Technical Negligence

Biratnagar. A list of policy corruption and technical negligence has been presented in the meeting of the Public Accounts Committee of Koshi Province. The bridge at Chuhar of Dudhkoshi river on the Dharan-Chatara-Bhojpur road connecting Sunsari's Dharan became a major issue during the discussion with the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development regarding the seventh annual report of the Auditor General. Questions raised by former Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Congress MP Bhupendra Rai and UML MP Revatiraman Bhandari in the meeting put the ministry's secretary Milan Acharya on the defensive. In the meeting that lasted for about four hours, the errors pointed out by the Auditor General regarding the province's multi-billion projects were discussed clause by clause. The Chuhar bridge was the main focus of the meeting. Speaking about the negligence in the design and construction process of the bridge, former minister Bhupendra Rai said that the bridge was left incomplete due to the weakness of the Swiss government itself. 'The way this bridge is designed, it seems to trap not only our development model but also the Swiss government involved in it,' he said. The DPR of that bridge was made by the Swiss government. According to Rai, there is a major technical error in the height and location selection of the bridge. 'Where the bridge should be, it is not there. It is certain that the bridge will be washed away by the flood tomorrow,' he added, 'Such a big game in a project to be built with the help of an international donor agency means our reputation is falling. The reputation of the Swiss government is also at stake in this setting.' Supporting Rai's statement, MP Revatiraman Bhandari asserted that this matter is not trivial. He said, 'Price adjustment cannot be given in design and build contracts. But here, payments worth crores have been made against the rules. This matter is very serious, a parliamentary inquiry committee should be formed immediately and action should be taken.' As the MPs presented a strong stance demanding an investigation, the Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure Development, Milan Acharya, asked for some time. He said, 'The issue raised by the honorable members is serious, I do not deny it. But, I need to understand in detail whether it is necessary to form an inquiry committee right now.' Secretary Acharya stated that the ministry is also conducting an internal study at its own level and requested one month's time for the ministry. 'Give me some time to study the files and understand from the technical team, after that we are ready to follow whatever decision the committee makes,' Acharya said. In the meeting, not only the Chuhar bridge but the overall working style of the ministry was questioned. The Auditor General's report presented the fact that an amount of 70 crore 27 lakh 30 thousand rupees was reallocated only at the end of the financial year, in the month of Asar. MPs called this 'budget finishing farming'. 'They don't work all year round, and then in Asar, they reallocate billions of budgets and feed their close contractors,' said MP Bhandari. Most of the reallocated projects were found to be without DPR and selected arbitrarily. It has been found that various infrastructure offices under the ministry have paid amounts to contractors in violation of rules for price adjustment. The committee has directed the offices in Morang, Panchthar, Okhaldhunga, and Udayapur to immediately recover the excess payment of a total of 3 crore 54 lakh 16 thousand rupees. 'The contractor does not complete the work within the deadline, and the ministry is giving him extra money saying the price has increased? What kind of justice is this?' asked the committee chairman Rajan Kirati. During the discussion, it was revealed that the ministry spends crores of rupees by appointing external consultants even for small technical tasks. The ministry has spent 11 crore 82 lakh 26 thousand rupees on consultancy services just to prepare the detailed project reports for 122 projects. Committee members demanded an explanation from the ministry's engineers about what they are doing and why money is being distributed to external consultancies. Since most of the DPRs were found to be inconsistent with the field and were 'copy-pasted', the committee has directed to curb this as well. During the discussion, projects like the Chiptar bridge in Udayapur, the Ghinaghat road, and the Koshi Refreshment Center were also discussed. The committee expressed serious objection to the Chiptar bridge being damaged before completion and the attempt to spend money from the state treasury in the name of repair instead of taking action against the contractor. Similarly, the issue of no concrete achievement despite the expenditure so far on the refreshment center under construction in Sunsari and the risk of billions of investments being at stake also took priority in the meeting. What is the Chuhar bridge? A contract for a concrete bridge at Chuhar over the Dudhkoshi River, connecting Belka Municipality-7 of Udayapur and Hatuwagadhi Rural Municipality-8 of Bhojpur, was awarded in 2077 BS. The bridge was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister Sherdhan Rai on October 12, 2077 BS. The contract was signed with the construction company for 21 crore 23 lakh 12 thousand four hundred and seven rupees to be completed within two years. However, the bridge is still not built. After it was not completed on time, a meeting of stakeholders including MP Sirjana Rai, former Chief Minister Sherdhan Rai, acting chief of the Transport Infrastructure Directorate Itahari Jitendra Kumar Karna, and contractor company representative Thakur Prasad Kandel decided on a four-point agreement to complete the work by October 12, 2080 BS. Even after the second deadline expired, local people are facing difficulties in commuting due to the negligence of the construction company. A dirt road has been built from the Koshi bridge of Chatara to Chuhar and from Chuhar to Ghodethar, on which vehicles can run. Although locals commute via the old suspension bridge due to the lack of a concrete bridge, vehicles cannot cross. If any goods need to be transported from Dharan to Bhojpur, there is no alternative but to carry them by porters across the suspension bridge. The pillar construction of the 90-meter-long and 10.5-meter-wide bridge is not even half complete.