KATHMANDU: Two decades have passed since the Panchayat era ended, but political parties still continue to force District Development Committees to follow non-existent Panchayati laws, apparently to misappropriate development funds for their vested interests.

Recent reports of 10 districts accessed from the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) show allocations under the headings 'donation and financial assistance' for political parties. This clearly violates the Local Self-Governance Act-2055 BS.

"Political parties have forced local bodies to allocate budget for them and their sister organisations in almost all districts, even Kathmandu has not been spared," said MoLD spokesman Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya. "During the bygone Panchayat era, assistance ranging from Rs. 300 to Rs. 50,000 was provided to pacify cadres. No such provision exists today, but political parties seem to be hooked to this practice."

Dhruba Bandhu Aryal, chief of Local Development Section at the National Planning Commission, said parties had appropriated a share of the budget for local bodies. However, Dinesh Chandra Devkota, acting Vice-Chairman, NPC, said the planning commission was unaware of this. "The concerned ministry should take action. If we are informed, we will take action," he added.

Thapaliya said the districts were not complying with the regulations. "Political parties are only interested in fulfiling their vested interests. Development programmes are in the grip of elite groups and there is lack of monitoring in the VDCs. The centre has also failed to implement laws well and local bodies act as if they are autonomous," he added.

Though the all-party mechanism is responsible for these issues in the districts, it is irresponsibly influencing Local Development Officers and engineers to serve party interests, said Thapaliya.

MoLD had monitored performance, development activities and the use of allocated funds in 10 districts-Morang, Ilam, Bara, Kaski, Rupandehi, Banke Surkhet, Dadeldhura, Kanchanpur and Rautahat-in the first phase. Ten other districts are currently being monitored and five more districts will be scrutinised within the current fiscal.

This fiscal year, a total of Rs. 42 billion including Rs. 22 billion for development and Rs. 20 billion for administration was allocated for the 75 districts.

In the name of development

Progressive Teachers' Union Rs 120,000

Nepal Trade Union Office Rs 500,000

Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi) Rs 137,000

CPN-UML Rs 136,000

Nepali Congress Rs 110,000

Madheshi Janasdhikar Forum Rs 89,000

UCPN-Maoist Rs 60,000

CPN (Unified) Rs 53,000

CPN-ML Rs 25,000

Janamorcha Nepal (Sherchan) Rs 25,000

Janamorcha Nepal Rs 22,000

Rastriya Janamorcha Rs 15,000

Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Mahato) Rs 12,000

CPN (Unified Marxist) Rs 4,000