Dhangadi, November 30 Too little has happened in terms of development activities in Far-west Province in the first quarter of the current fiscal. As learnt, the province has managed to spend a meagre 0.181 per cent of the development budget in the first four months of the current fiscal. As per the Province Treasury Comptroller Office, Dhangadi, the provincial government had spent Rs 20.964 million by mid-November this fiscal. Regarding current expenditure, however, the province is said to have got some 395.213 million rupees in the first quarter of this fiscal, which make up three per cent of the allocated budget under the same heading. “If we are to see the total expenditure of the province in the first quarter of this fiscal, it makes up around 1.07 per cent of the total budget,” said accounts officer Yagyaraj Pandeya of the office. Commenting on the nominal spending of the annual budget, Financial Affairs and Planning Minister Jhapat Bahadur Bohara of the province attributed the same to lack of staffers and attendant difficulty in implementing development projects envisioned in the budget. “To talk about my own ministry, there are just 13 staffers against the required number of 47, which apparently has affected the implementation of the budget resulting in the low spending,” he said. Further, the minister informed of the province’s preparations to ensure implementation of the budget even by procuring staffers on contract basis. On his part, Nepali Congress Provincial Assembly member Bharat Khadka criticised the government for failing to work as per people’s expectation. “The government apparently lacks the willpower and vision to do something, which is reflected in its poor spending of budget,” he said. It is important to note that the government in the province has allocated some 24.4298 billion rupees for the current fiscal.