DIPAYAL: Work at the District Development Committee (DDC), Doti, has been halted for a month now, after the Local Development Officer, who had left the district on a seven-day leave, did not show up.

While LDO Raju Thapa has now taken up a responsibility at the Ministry of Local Development; the ministry is yet to hand over the responsibility to someone else.

Churamani Joshi, a staffer at the DDC said, “Though project officer Bishnu Bhusal has been given the responsibility of distributing perks of the employees, he is out of the district too.”

Meetings of the district council and the area council were stalled due to the absence of the LDO in the district. Construction of six drinking water projects, fifteen rural roads and survey of seven new projects have been hindered.

DDC spokesperson Amar Khadka said, “No financial transactions have been conducted in the absence of the LDO.”

According Khadak Bohara, a local, the budget allotted for various projects is likely to freeze. The district will lose Rs 20 million development budget if the district council meeting is not held timely.

Former DDC chairman Bharat Bahadur Khadka said, “As the DDC is directly related with lives of the people, the government has to provide an alternative at the earliest if LDO Thapa is not returning.”