Dhangadi, July 19

A large amount of development budget has frozen in the far-west region, thanks to the tendency among contractors to unnecessarily sit on the projects for long after bagging them.

According to far-west Road Division Office Dipayal Chief Sushilbabu Basnet, this tendency among contractors is the major cause behind the development budget not being spent.

“Apart from contractors, delay in the release of development fund and gross negligence on the part of the concerned consumers’ committees are also to blame for the freeze that invariably happens every year,” said far-west Regional Monitoring and Supervision Office Dipayal Director Pradip Mudhabhari, who added that the blockade at the border points was also a factor role in for the freezing of the development fund in the last fiscal.

According to official data, around 4.5 billion rupees of development fund was frozen in the recently concluded fiscal. The amount makes up 11.80 per cent of the total development fund received for the region comprising nine districts.

The region had received a total of 37.61 billion rupees for development and current expenses for the last fiscal. Categorically, 22 per cent of the development budget was frozen against 7.12 per cent of the budget for current expenditure.

The highest amount, around 1 billion rupees of the development budget was frozen in Kailali. The district is followed by other districts including Achham, Bajura, Bajhang, Kanchanpur and Darchula.