Over 4,400 Corruption Complaints Filed Against Lumbini Province in Fiscal Year 2081/82

Lumbini. A total of 4,428 complaints related to various forms of corruption were filed with the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) in Lumbini Province for the fiscal year 2081/82.

According to the statistics released by Office Chief Binita Bhattarai during a program organized by the CIAA's Butwal office on Wednesday, marking the commission's 35th anniversary, out of the total 1,853 complaints received by the Butwal office in the last fiscal year, 1,609 complaints (86.36 percent) were resolved.

Furthermore, as of the end of Poush in the current fiscal year, out of a total of 1,188 complaints, 545 were resolved. Office Chief Bhattarai also informed that out of the total 104 complaints under detailed investigation by the Butwal office, 37 complaints have been resolved.

During the same period, a total of 37,026 complaints were received across the country by the CIAA and its subordinate offices. The CIAA statistics indicate that more than half of the total complaints, approximately 54 percent, were related to local level bodies, 33.69 percent to federal government agencies, and 12.47 percent to provincial government agencies.

Chief Bhattarai stated that the majority of complaints registered with the commission are related to land and forest, grant programs in agriculture/livestock, utilization of natural resources, project construction and procurement, work of consumer committees, construction and procurement in the education sector, and procurement of medicines and equipment in the health sector.

Chief Bhattarai further informed that under the curative strategy, the commission conducts preliminary investigations, detailed investigations, and under the promotional program, it operates school-level community education, and organizes interaction programs at the local, district, and provincial levels, in addition to collaborating and partnering with citizen monitoring organizations as part of citizen cooperation against corruption.

At the program, Chief Guest and Chief of Lumbini Province, Krishna Bahadur Gharti, stated that controlling corruption is essential to achieving the aspirations of sustainable peace, good governance, development, and prosperity envisioned by the current constitution. He emphasized that the main objective is to advance the federal democratic system of governance by maintaining good governance, and pointed out the need for the CIAA, the country's most important constitutional body for controlling corruption, to control corruption and promote good governance through scientific investigation systems, and real, impartial, and objective prosecution by resolving the problems and challenges encountered in investigation and prosecution.

He highly praised the work of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority for working impartially and fearlessly on corruption cases spread across the federal, provincial, and local levels.

On that occasion, Lumbini Province Chief Minister Chetanarayan Acharya stated that all organs of the state must work within their respective jurisdictions. He mentioned that attempts are being made to shirk necessary work by citing the CIAA, and the provincial government is bearing the brunt of this. He drew the commission's attention to the fact that the 21-point directive sent by the commission has created obstacles in carrying out some essential tasks.

Lumbini Provincial Assembly Speaker Tul Bahadur Gharti, Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City Mayor Khelraj Pandel, and others stated that they have to face legal complications even in solving the basic problems of the people because the necessary laws for the local and provincial governments have not been enacted.