RAUTAHAT: The agitated representatives of consumers committee of municipalities in Rautahat’s electoral constituency 3 have padlocked District Technical Office, Gaur on Wednesday demanding reimbursement of budget utilised in development projects worth Rs 10.75 million under parliamentarian development fund.

The committee was forced to padlock the office after it failed to make payments for development projects which were concluded as per project agreements a year ago, Co-ordinator of Consumers Struggle Committee, Tribhuvan Shah said.

“Bills of materials procured in credit for seven development projects which concluded during the last fiscal under parliamentarian development fund were sent to respective offices,” Shah informed. “However, the authorities have not yet reimbursed the amount.”

According to Divisional Engineer, Binod Thakur, works under the project were concluded as per contractual agreement. However, the office has not yet received the allocated budget for those projects barring any payments for the same.

“The issue will be resolved within few days as we have stepped up efforts to release the budget through the ministry,” Thakur added.

Likewise, Chief District Officer, Govinda Prasad Rijal expressed hope that the Ministry of Federal and Local Affairs would make the due payments soon.