Nawalpur, September 11

Local representatives of Gaidakot Municipality, Nawalpur, today padlocked the municipality office protesting the ‘unilateral and opaque distribution of budget.

Deputy-mayor Bishnu Kumari Kandel Sapkota, along with ward chairpersons with the support of Nepali Congress Gaidakot padlocked the office of the municipality Administrative Officer Ram Prasad Acharya.

They have accused Mayor Chhatraraj Poudel of spending around 20 million rupees of the municipal budget for the last fiscal at his whim.

“Though there was agreement to coordinate in spending of the budget, the mayor all of a sudden started working unilaterally, which prompted us to protest,” the deputy mayor explained.

“After he (the mayor) randomly distributed the municipal budget that froze last year, we asked him to present the detail of the expenditure, but each time he spurned us, which left no option for us,” said Nepali Congress town president Tarapati Kharel.

Mayor Poudel, on his part, described the lockout as unlawful and vowed to do the needful to let the municipality work as usual even by breaking the padlock.