Biratnagar, August 22:

The government has been paying around Rs 14 million annually towards house rent in Morang. As many government offices in Morang district do not have buildings of their own, the government has been forced to function from rented buildings.

Of 86 government offices in the district, 70 have rented buildings. “A huge sum from state coffers is being spent to pay rent for government offices,” an official at Biratnagar-based Morang district comptroller office said.

Bhadra Mani Khatri of the office said, “The burden on the state is increasing as a legal provision states that the rent shall be hiked by 10 per cent every year.”

During the last fiscal year, the Biratnagar Appellate Court paid Rs 1,287,000 as rent. “As the building of the court is under construction, the court can be shifted to its own building only after a few years,” Khatri said.

With office of Border Security, Letang Area Police Office and Commercial Agriculture Development Project office established last year, rent burden on the state has only increased.

The District Attorney’s Office paid Rs 9.91 lakh as rent last year, and followed by District Election Office (Rs 5.4 lakh), Commerce Development Project Office (Rs 5.4 lakh), Comptroller’s Office (Rs 2.78 lakh) and Cottage Industry’s Office (Rs 2 lakh).