Lalitpur, October 18:

The Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City (LMC) has failed to allocate funds and formulate other programmes to implement in the municipal areas in the beginning of the fiscal year 2006-07 due to lack of the formation of its municipal board. The LMC management now says it is going to discuss budgetary issues only after Tihar when merely seven months are left for the completion of the current fiscal.

Prem Raj Joshi, executive officer of LMC, said: “We are conducting internal discussion to finalise the budget after Tihar.”

Joshi said that even though the LMC had not allocated funds for various plans and programmes, it is carrying out various development works in coordination with the political leaders of Lalitpur.

He said that the Ministry of Local Development has now given the executive officer with the authority of municipal board to make decisions and pass projects with budget of less than or equivalent to Rs 1 million.

The dissolution of elected representatives of the royal government in May had left the LMC board in limbo. In the absence of the board, the LMC could not hold its tenth Town Council meeting on time.

However, the projects worth more than Rs 1 million, which has to be tendered and handed over to the contractors are severely affected. Also, the periodic plans and programmes, policy decisions like fixing the tax rate and making adjustments which shows immediate effects have been severely affected.