Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, February 12

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), which is facing financial crisis, has decided to cut down expenses and pursue new steps for generating income.

Officials said the administration will tighten the screws on the expenses on telephone, fuel, photocopy, allowances, heaters or fans, hotel seminars, books or newspapers and advertisements.

"The KMC will have to undergo a tough time for six months -- carelessness on the use of these items has caused KMC a heavy financial burden though they seem small. However, being economical is not bad for the nation," said an official. A special meeting of the metropolis officials, including the mayor and deputy mayor, held recently had decided to to cut down the expenditure.

According to the decision, KMC will not distribute direct telephone lines, provide fuel to police office and other helping institutions, will reduce cleaning expenses, buy only six newspapers and regulate the photocopy facility by appointing a staff.

Assistant executive officer Gopal Parajuli is heading a team to investigate the present system of distributing petrol to its officials and its effectiveness.

Similarly, the ward offices will not provide ambulances, which will be sent to the Public Health Department. The expenses on refreshment and overtime duty will be cut off. A six-member committee led by Buddhi Narayan Shrestha was formed to probe into irregularities in the distribution of allowances.

"The KMC will not provide financial support to anybody during the current fiscal year, will not buy books and will not pay for any greeting advertisements because the budget allocated for these purposes has already been spent. The expense on official announcements will not exceed Rs 5,000. It will strictly control expensive seminars.

Parajuli said the KMC had to reduce overhead expenses because it has many new projects in the pipeline to be completed this year. "We are very optimistic of the implementation of new decisions".