Dharan Sub-Metropolis Faces Audit Report Highlighting Irregularities

Biratnagar. The final audit report of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City for the fiscal year 2081/82 has revealed expenditures of lakhs of rupees in violation of the Local Government Operation Act, Public Procurement Act, and prevailing laws.

According to the report, the sub-metropolis's financial discipline appears weak, and the size of its arrears is continuously increasing. As per the report published by the Office of the Auditor General, Dharan's total updated arrears have exceeded 45 crore rupees.

According to the Auditor General's report, the accounts of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City totaling 4 Arba 36 crore 34 lakh 3 thousand rupees were audited for the fiscal year 2081-82. During this, arrears of 6 crore 98 lakh 38 thousand rupees were identified, of which 1 crore 28 lakh 3 thousand rupees have been settled based on the explanations and responses submitted by the sub-metropolis.

After this, remaining arrears of 5 crore 70 lakh 81 thousand rupees are pending, of which 10 lakh 21 thousand rupees are to be recovered, 2 crore 65 lakh 71 thousand rupees are to be regularized, 2 crore 87 lakh 52 thousand rupees require submission of documentary evidence, and 7 lakh 37 thousand rupees are pending advances. With the addition of this year's arrears to the pending arrears from previous years amounting to 39 crore 33 lakh 94 thousand rupees, the updated arrears have been fixed at 45 crore 4 lakh 76 thousand rupees.

The report has pointed out that people's representatives and officials have taken double and additional facilities in violation of prevailing laws. Transportation and fuel expenses have been paid in contravention of the provisions of the Facilities Act for Local Level Office Bearers and Members of Koshi Province, 2075.

Transportation and fuel expenses have been paid monthly to ward members and officials who do not own vehicles. In some cases, government vehicle-using employees and officials have received double fuel and transportation allowances. It was found that the ward chairman and members of Ward No. 13 received fuel payments without specifying the vehicle number and purpose.

In various wards, irregular payments of lakhs of rupees have been made based on bills and vouchers, exceeding the prescribed limits in the name of hospitality, tea parties, and snack expenses. While 1 crore 1 lakh 43 thousand 112 rupees were spent on snack expenses by employees and officials within the city based on daily attendance, it was found that 50 lakh 55 thousand 959 rupees were paid based on manual attendance.

In violation of Section 83 of the Local Government Operation Act, 2074, Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City has increased its financial burden by appointing a large number of contract and daily wage employees without organizational and management surveys and outside the approved staffing.

The sub-metropolis has appointed 131 employees on contract in various positions, spending a total of 8 crore 92 lakh 31 thousand 252 rupees on salaries and allowances. Similarly, an additional 1 crore 98 lakh 90 thousand 948 rupees have been spent by appointing 44 employees outside the approved staffing.

An additional 25 people have been kept on monthly daily wages within the approved organizational structure, and 64 lakh 38 thousand 255 rupees have been paid, which has been declared irregular by the Auditor General as it is not in accordance with the rules. In the approved organizational structure, despite there being no provision for sports coaches, the sub-metropolis has appointed 4 sports coaches on contract and paid them annual salaries and allowances of 19 lakh 22 thousand 87 rupees.

Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City has been found to be distributing budgets arbitrarily, violating procedures under the heading of financial assistance and miscellaneous expenses. According to Section 29 of the Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City's Expenditure Management Procedure, 2078, a maximum of 10,000 rupees can be provided to the poor and helpless by the decision of the Mayor, and anything more than that can only be provided by the decision of the Executive Committee.

However, the sub-metropolis has been found to be distributing financial assistance without any clear criteria. Financial assistance has been distributed to various individuals ranging from 25,000 to 500,000 rupees at different rates. For example, 500,000 rupees in financial assistance were provided in the incident of Roshan Limbu's death due to floods, while different and unequal rates were adopted in other incidents. It has been found that the same researcher or individual has received double financial assistance from both the central fund of the municipality and the ward office.

The Auditor General's report indicates that Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City has violated laws and regulations in procurement processes and construction work. According to the Sanitary Pad (Distribution and Management) Procedure, 2076, sanitary pads of at least 240+20 mm should be purchased, but pads of inferior quality and not meeting the standard (317 mm) have been purchased. This has resulted in an additional financial burden of 14 lakh 12 thousand 257 rupees on the sub-metropolis.

To circumvent the tender process, the purchase of street lights has been divided into small amounts and procured through quotations and direct purchases via ward offices, thereby limiting competition. In the work of road maintenance and asphalting, excess quantities have been shown in contravention of technical standards and agreements, leading to overpayment to the construction entrepreneurs. The Auditor General has stated that 1 lakh 72 thousand 566 rupees need to be recovered from this.

According to Rule 112 of the Public Procurement Regulations, 2064, it is mandatory to have 'all-risk insurance' for construction works exceeding 20 lakh rupees. However, payments have been made to construction entrepreneurs without insurance for projects such as Gyanodaya Secondary School building construction and Nepal Indigenous Peoples Museum construction.

Due to the failure to implement the agreement between the sub-metropolis and Venture Waste to Energy Pvt. Ltd. for solid waste management, the sub-metropolis has had to collect and manage waste at its own expense. This year alone, a total of 4 crore 18 lakh 22 thousand 691 rupees have been spent on this. Whereas, according to the agreement, this work was supposed to fall under the private company's responsibility, and the company was supposed to pay 1% of its income to the sub-metropolis. This project has been stalled due to the sub-metropolis's weak monitoring and coordination.

The Auditor General has strictly advised the sub-metropolis to increase its internal revenue base, cut down on contract employees outside the approved staffing, stop double benefits, and fully comply with procurement laws. The Mayor of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City during that fiscal year was Harka Sampang. Sampang is currently the chairman of the Labour Culture Party. Sampang resigned from the post of Sub-Metropolitan Mayor and participated in the House of Representatives elections held on February 21. He is also an elected Member of Parliament from Sunsari Constituency No. 1.